More than 100 rare, endangered hellbenders released into Ohio
More than 100 rare and endangered giant salamanders called hellbenders were released in Ohio this summer.
Since eastern hellbenders, which can grow up to 2 feet, breathe entirely through their skin, they need clean water and a healthy habitat to survive. Hellbenders, sometimes called "snot otters," are considered an indicator species because their absence or presence is an indicator of the ecosystem's health. Decades of habitat loss, pollution and sedimentation have driven dramatic declines in Ohio and neighboring states, putting the species at risk.
To help hellbenders recover, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and The Wilds released 116 of the salamanders into protected waterways in eastern Ohio and West Virginia this summer.
For more than a decade, the Columbus Zoo and The Wilds have been collecting eggs from the hellbender's native range and hatching them in a lab. There they're raised until they're big enough to improve their chances of survival in the wild before they're tagged and released.
Since 2012, over 2,000 hellbenders have been released in Ohio. Teams have also installed more than 100 huts, which give researchers safe access to the hellbenders and their eggs.
The zoo says the hard work is paying off. In 2023, researchers documented wild reproduction by previously released hellbenders for the first time, and recently, the program found a hellbender tagged in 2013 living in one of the huts.
"This is quiet work that adds up," Greg Lipps, a conservation biologist at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, said in a press release. "One stream, one release, one more sign that clean water and wildlife can thrive together in our community. We raise these animals for years and then let them slip back under the rocks that shelter them. It takes patience, careful science and many hands, and we are grateful to our partners and neighbors who care for these waters with us."