[bright music] - Today we're gonna talk about animal babies and how they're raised in the wild.

Whether it's a single parent or both, if the entire family helps out or if that baby animal is left to learn everything on its own, it's fascinating to see how animals are raised in their native habitat.

- [Narrator] An all by myself family type is based on instincts and is where the baby is left to figure out how to live on its own.

In many cases, these animals never meet their mom or dad.

This is very common in most fish, amphibians and reptiles.

It usually involves animals that lay a large number of eggs.

Some species will guard or care for their eggs prior to hatching, but not raise their young.

Most animals that do not have their parents around already know how to survive.

They're born with the skills to find food and avoid predators.

They're also born as miniature versions of adults, like baby lizards.

They're hatched from eggs and can immediately run to shelter and begin finding food.

Another great example is baby sea turtles.

Once they're born on a beach, they know how to swim out to sea and can swim as soon as they reach the water.

Houston toads are hatched from eggs and grow to be tadpoles, thin tiny toads.

They have to fend for themselves immediately after they're born.

Houston toad, such an amazing animal.

These guys were once found in lots of counties along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Today they're mostly found in central Texas in the areas of Bastrop County with a few populations in Austin County and Colorado and Leon Counties as well.

The Houston Zoo has a breeding facility for this endangered animal to help increase Houston toad populations in the wild.

In 2018, the zoo and its wildlife partners released nearly 1 million Houston toad eggs into Bastrop State Park.

That's about as much as filling NRG stadium where the Houston Texans play 13 times.

The hope is that a majority of those toad eggs will grow to be tadpoles and eventually adult toads to then produce baby toads on their own in the wild.

These are toads from the zoo's breeding program.

They all hatched in May of 2017.

They are quite happy with their five star digs at the Houston Zoo.

They even get crickets delivered by room service.

But in the wild, they prefer a sandy soil and pine forest, like those found in Bastrop State Park.