Checking for hellbender eggs at Saint Louis Zoo

This "At the Zoo" moment courtesy KMOV-TV.

A Missouri resident, the hellbender is the largest species of salamander native to North America. These salamanders are perfectly adapted to their stream habitats with their flattened head and body, short stout legs, long rudder-like tail, and very small, beady eyes. The hellbender populations have been threatened by stream impoundments, pollution and siltation for years, yet seemed to do okay in Missouri and Arkansas. However, over the past 10 years, due to unknown factors, the populations in the Ozark Mountains experienced a sudden decline of 70%.

As part of our conservation efforts, we have set up a room in our Herpetarium with a 32-foot-long fast-flowing stream where we can duplicate changing climate conditions, including rainfall, humidity, temperature. In addition to our breeding group of hellbenders, we have also fast-started 136 youngsters from the wild. Some of the youngsters have been reintroduced to the wild.

http://http://www.stlzoo.org/wildcareinstitute/hellbendersinmissouri/

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Science & Technology

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• ATZ
• Hellbender