Texas participants in the 2026 City Nature Challenge documented more than 176 Species of Greatest Conservation Need, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced, as several Texas cities again ranked among the top 10 globally in the community science event.
It marked the fifth consecutive year Texas cities placed in the global top 10 in the challenge, one of the world’s largest community science efforts, according to a July 21 TPWD news release.
Fourteen Texas metropolitan areas took part and logged 322,416 observations, recording more than 9,500 different species, the agency said. Among them were more than 176 Species of Greatest Conservation Need, including the Texas horned lizard, zone-tailed hawk, tricolored bat and Texas tortoise. Four Texas urban areas ranked in the top 15 globally for observations, and the state accounted for 11 percent of all observations worldwide.
The San Antonio metro area ranked second globally in both observations and species observed and first in number of observers, TPWD said, while the Dallas-Fort Worth area ranked third in both observations and species observed.
Globally, the agency said, the 2026 challenge drew 107,906 participants who recorded more than 2.88 million observations and documented 75,155 species, including 5,628 rare, endangered or threatened species, across 747 cities in 62 countries, all increases over the 2025 event.
The City Nature Challenge is co-organized by the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and invites people of all ages to photograph wild plants, animals and fungi using the free iNaturalist app. TPWD’s Texas Nature Trackers program supports the challenge in Texas.