#snot otter

[blessedscavengers]

a beautiful little hellbender

made in 2025

[ainawgsd]

We saw matamata turtles at the zoo yesterday!

And really adorable hognose turtles

And cool snake necked turtles

And my beloved snot otter, the eastern hellbender

[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.

[thescribblingtree]

Snot Otter

[lovingexotics]

Have you ever seen a Snot Otter? We take care of them and at my university and they are such interesting creatures.

I legitimately thought that they were going to be otters, like slimey little otters or something. But they are not, and I'm not disappointed one bit. These guys are so awesome! (X)

[fresherbrine]

Hellbender by David Herasimtschuk

[zoonomatology]

SNOT OTTER (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)

Herasimtschuk, D. 2015. “Two male Eastern hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) fight over prime breeding habitat” North Carolina, USA

Better known as the hellbender, the snot otter ain’t no mustelid. Also recognised as the mud dog, lasagna lizard, grampus and several more delightful vernaculars, this sizeable salamander has only its appearance to blame (most notably the thick, slimy folds of skin running down the lateral sides of the animal). I think they’re adorable.

[buggzy-wuggzy]

My brother said I should doodle a hellbender... it turned out slightly creepy :(