Over 1,300 hellbenders recently hatched at Missouri zoo. Watch a ‘snot otter’ emerge
Slippery, camouflaged, strong-jawed hellbenders are one of the largest salamander species in the world, experts say, and they are also endangered.
In hopes of saving the species, Saint Louis Zoo’s Ron Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation is maintaining its breeding program — considered a “last resort” for the species’ survival.
From October through December 2021, conservationists helped hatch 1,333 hellbenders at the zoo’s Charles H. Hoessle Herpetarium, according to a Dec. 20 Facebook post by the Saint Louis Zoo.
Of those hatchings, 750 are second-generation Saint Louis Zoo-bred Ozark hellbenders, officials say. The remaining 583 Ozark and eastern hellbender hatchings were brought to the zoo as eggs by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
These successful hatchings came about 10 years after the zoo celebrated “the world’s first successful zoo-bred Ozark hellbenders,” according to the post.
Endangered hellbenders
Nicknamed “snot otters” and “old lasagna sides,” the Ozark hellbender and the eastern hellbender subspecies are endangered in Missouri, experts say. The Ozark hellbender is also listed as federally endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“Hellbender populations in Missouri have declined more than 70 percent over the past 40 years,” the zoo said. “A population assessment indicated that all hellbender populations have a high risk of extinction (above 96%) over the next 75 years, unless populations are bolstered. Based upon these results, zoo propagation and head-starting were deemed essential to the long-term recovery of hellbenders in Missouri.”
See a hellbender hatch
In a short video, the Saint Louis Zoo shared a glimpse of its successful breeding program, including a hellbender as it emerged from its egg.
First, you’ll see a herpetology keeper collect fertile Ozark hellbender eggs from a nest box in a special outdoor stream designed by the zoo.
The eggs were then moved to the zoo’s herpetarium, the video shows, as keepers handle the eggs and maintain proper water quality, temperature and movement.
At the 34-second mark, you can see the yellow belly (known as the yolk) of the hellbenders. That provides the necessary nutrients for the young amphibians’ growth, officials say.
Then, at about 40 seconds, the video shows a hellbender hatching as it then emerges and swims away from the egg.
‘Snot otters’
Hellbenders can grow to about 2 feet long and its closest relatives are the giant salamanders found in China and Japan, according to the zoo.
“Hellbenders are made for life in the water,” experts said. “They usually don’t swim, but they walk on the bottom of the stream bed. Their slippery, flattened body moves easily through water, and their well-developed legs and oar-like tail help them walk against the current with little resistance.
“These amphibians have natural camouflage. Their skin is brown with black splotches — perfect for blending in with their surroundings and avoiding potential predators.”
They typically eat crayfish, using their large mouths and strong jaws while hunting at night, though they’ll eat “just about any living critter they can swallow whole.”
The zoo says the hellbenders biggest enemies are humans as their habitat has been polluted and changed, though they also have natural predators like river otters, raccoons and even bigger hellbenders.
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