The Blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila) is an endangered and charismatic lizard species native to California’s Central Valley. In partnership with The Bureau of Land Management and the Telemeco Reptile Ecology and Evolution lab at California State University, Fresno, emergency permission was granted to collected adult G.sila (4 male and three female) from the Panoche Hills plateau. This colony was taken to Fresno Chaffee Zoo to form the first captive assurance colony of G.sila. Since the 2020 collection the program has produced over 60 lizards and have produced F2 animals. Our presentation will review our program successes, challenges and the future of our work this species.

Steven Sharp is a Zoological Animal Manger at Fresno Chaffee Zoo; he manages the team of zookeepers that take care of the Asia West Section as well as the BNLL colony at the zoo.  Steve manages the day to day of the zoos herpetological collection.  Steve has worked in the Zoo Herpetology field for the past 9 years spanning three separate AZA zoos. During his time at FCZ he has been a large part of developing the husbandry and reproduction protocols for the Blunt-nosed leopard lizard colony.