The Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens' Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation continued its long-term effort to restore the Eastern indigo snake to its natural habitat with two releases this spring. In late April and early May 2026, conservation teams released 42 juvenile Eastern indigo snakes in all: 21 at The Nature Conservancy's Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve in the Florida Panhandle on April 28, and another 21 in Conecuh National Forest in Alabama on May 8. The Apalachicola release marked the 10th annual release at that preserve since the program began in 2017.
The snakes are bred and hatched at the center, then raised in partnership with additional wildlife facilities. Hatchlings are monitored and cared for at the center for about a year before typically being transferred to a partner agency for another year of growth and preparation prior to release. The work is a multi-agency effort led by The Nature Conservancy, the center and a coalition of state, federal and nonprofit partners.
Eastern indigo snakes were historically found in southern Georgia, Alabama, eastern Mississippi and throughout Florida, and were last observed at the Apalachicola preserve in 1982 until the recovery effort began in 2017. A 2024-2025 winter-spring survey identified a female snake originally released in 2019 along with 19 other snakes released between 2020 and 2024, and researchers observed a six-foot-long male and two wild-born hatchlings. The species is North America's longest native snake, a non-venomous apex predator that reaches lengths over eight feet and, in the northern part of its range, often relies on gopher tortoise burrows for shelter in cold weather.
Press release issued by Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens:
https://www.centralfloridazoo.org/42-eastern-indigo-snakes-released-across-florida-and-alabama-in-continued-species-recovery-effort/
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