#ozark hellbender

[snarkystenonychosaurus]

This is an Ozark Hellbender having a little jaunt around her enclosure! She’s part of the breeding efforts at my zoo for this highly endangered subspecies of the largest amphibian in North America!

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

Have you seen the Ozark hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi)?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

I've seen hellbenders in general, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I've seen hellbenders in general, irl

Voting ended onAug 3, 2024

[amphibianaday]

Request for a Ozark Hellbender with big ol googly eyes slapped on there for flavor?

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day 746

[rjzimmerman]

The gigantic Ozark hellbender salamander is in trouble in the wild, but one zoo — and a hard-working team — is helping to boost its populations.

Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:

The two-foot-long salamanders that live in Missouri go by a lot of different names.

Scientifically they’re known as Ozark hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi).

More colloquially these massive amphibians have a few more colorful sobriquets, including “mud devil,” “snot otter,” “Allegheny alligator” and even “old lasagna sides.”

But if they could talk, some of the Ozark hellbenders living at Saint Louis Zoo might call each other by different names: Mom and Dad.

Saint Louis Zoo is the only institution in the world that’s breeding Ozark hellbenders, and they’re doing it well. Since 2011 their program’s parent hellbenders have laid more than 6,500 eggs that have resulted in the births of more than 5,100 tiny hellbender hatchlings.

[mystlnewsonline]

Missouri News: Second Generation of Captive-Bred Ozark Hellbenders Hatch at Saint Louis Zoo

Missouri News: Second Generation of Captive-Bred Ozark Hellbenders Hatch at Saint Louis Zoo

Historic achievement in conservation for this endangered species

ST LOUIS, MO – The Saint Louis Zoo, the Missouri Department of Conservation and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announce a historic achievement in hellbenderconservation with the hatching of second-generation zoo-bred endangered Ozark hellbenders at the Saint Louis Zoo.  Since October 6, 2018, 39 hellbenders hatched at the Zoo’s…

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[herplove]

Ozark hellbenders became mothers at the St. Louis Zoo in November of 2011 for the first time in captivity.

Sixty-three hellbender larvae hatched out, starting on Nov. 15. It will take up to two years for them to morph into salamander form, and another five to eight years to reach sexual maturity.

[ecologyglobal-blog]

The hellbender can’t get a break. People either love them or hate them. And their survival is at risk from both.

Winning endangered status for an animal species is no easy feat these days, what with the backlash from those who portray all efforts at conservation as job-killers and budget busters. However, in early October of this year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service showed the Ozark hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishop) the respect it deserves, by granting it protection under the Endangered Species Act. Unlike most other ESA decisions, the directive stopped short of safeguarding the animal’s habitats in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, for fear it would guide poachers straight to their home territory. In the words of the FWS press release, “the service determined that designating critical habitat under the ESA for the Ozark hellbender is not prudent because the designation would require publication of detailed descriptions of hellbender locations and habitat, making illegal collection for the pet trade more likely.”