Why Does the Hellbender Salamander Need Our Help?

The hellbender salamander isn't nearly as scary as it sounds. Learn why they're mostly harmless -- and some of their populations are in danger -- in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff Lauren vocal Bomb. Here picture a remote freshwater
stream somewhere in the eastern United States. The water is cool,
there's a reasonably fast current, and the bottom is littered
with big flat rocks. Sounds peaceful, doesn't it. What you're

(00:22):
imagining is a perfect environment for trout and for something
else too. Every so often, anglers who cast their lines
in such places wind up catching North America's biggest salamander.
This thing leaves an impression. Specimens measuring twees long that's
seventy three have been documented, and the beefiest adults wagh

(00:44):
four to five pounds that's about two to two and
a half kilos. These four legged amphibians have compressed heads
and torsos, meaning that, judging by outward appearance, could think
someone had squished these critters flat with a rolling pin.
Another key attribute is their browned to grayish skin, which
hangs noticeably loose around their flanks. Early settlers didn't know

(01:06):
what to make of these guys. Baffled by their appearance,
some folks began calling them snot otters, devil dogs, or
mud devils. The species wouldn't receive its formal scientific name
Crypto branches alleganiensis until eight o three, but nowadays most
people know this strange salamander as the hell bender. Hellbenders

(01:29):
are divided into two subspecies. Northern Arkansas and southern Missouri
are the home of the endangered Ozark hell bender. The
eastern hellbender has a broader distribution, having spread itself across
the Greater Appalachian region and parts of the Midwest, though
sadly it's also got conservationists worried. Some amphibians are equally

(01:50):
at home on land and in the water, but hellbenders
are more or less totally aquatic. Their skin absorbs oxygen,
pulling it straight out of the water. That leaves hellbenders
at the mercy of pollutants and the excess silt and
runoff dumped into their streams by forest clearing projects. Sure
it doesn't help. One report published in two thousand seven

(02:12):
by the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that the
ozark hellbender will become functionally extinct by the year twenty
twenty six in less protective measures are taken. As of
twenty nineteen, it was still classified as endangered by the
US Fish and Wildlife Service, which has said that, in
some good news, most populations of the Eastern hellbender are
not in danger of extinction and therefore do not warrant

(02:35):
listing under the Endangered Species Act. To help boost populations
of the Ozark hellbender, the St. Louis Zoo teamed up
with the Missouri Department of Conservation and established a successful
breeding program in twenty eleven, and just last year, Pennsylvania
raised awareness about this wonderful species by naming the Eastern
hellbender its official state amphibian. Maybe such efforts will improve

(02:59):
the salum enders pr There's a pervasive belief that the
hellbender has a venomous bite, but this is untrue. The
hellbender wield no venom, and despite rumors to the contrary,
the amphibians do not hurt game fish populations. Crawfish make
up over the hellbender's diet. Other potential prey items include tadpoles,

(03:20):
smaller salamanders, and small fish. The creatures are most active
at night. They spend their days taking refuge under submerged
logs or stream bottom rocks. Hellbenders avoid humans, but they
will aggressively defend their territories against fellow members of their species.
So unless you are a rival salamander, a potential mate,

(03:41):
or a yummy crawfish, these beasties would just as soon
leave you alone. Disposition wise, they couldn't be less hellish.
Maybe it's time to start calling them heckbenders. Today's episode
was written by Mark Fancini and produced by Tyler Clang.
For more on this and lots of other heckish topics,

(04:02):
visit how stuff works dot com. Green Stuff is a
production of my heart Radio. For more podcasts in my
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