Hellbender Conservation News Today

GASCONADE RIVER, Mo. – Roughly a year after a zoo-raised Ozark hellbender successfully fathered a clutch of eggs in the wild, an eastern hellbender has followed suit.

A groundbreaking program to re-populate Missouri streams with hellbender salamanders is showing signs of success.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has announced population recovery efforts of the endangered Ozark hellbender are successful. A zoo-raised hellbender has reproduced within the Current River. Hellbenders are large aquatic salamanders. Missouri is the only state that contains both subspecies of North American hellbenders: the Ozark hellbender and the eastern […]

The Ozark hellbender was added to the federal endangered species list in October 2011.

The World Association of Zoos ad Aquariums (WAZA) has announced the winners of awards at its 77th WAZA Annual Conference.

The salamanders, also known as “snot otters,” are an endangered species and some of the largest of their kind in North America. Some scientists estimate that there were about 45,000 hellbenders in Missouri 40 years ago, but the population had declined by over three-quarters.

Missouri conservationists have reached an important milestone in their effort to save hellbender salamanders. In August, the number released into the wild topped 10,000. Scientists say it’s an important moment for the endangered species.