Zoo-raised hellbenders released in river

State and zoo project pays off in a big way

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) did something new this spring, helping a zoo-raised hellbender to successfully reproduce in the Current River.

“We are very excited to announce this news,” State Herpetologist Jeff Briggler said. “This is the first documented event of a zoo-raised animal fathering a clutch of eggs in the wild.”

Rivers in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas once supported up to 27,000 Ozark hellbenders. Today, fewer than 1,000 exist in the world, so it was added to the federal endangered species list in 2011.

A Large Salamander

Hellbenders are large, aquatic salamanders. Missouri is the only state that contains both recognized subspecies of North American hellbenders, the Ozark hellbender and the Eastern hellbender, which are listed as endangered both by the state and by the federal government.

The primary threats are habitat alteration and degradation, over-collecting, disease, predation, and degraded water quality. Hellbenders are longlived (up to 30 years), slow-tomature amphibians that seldom venture far within the river.

Wrinkly folds of skin along the hellbender’s sides provide increased surface area for respiration. Capillaries near the skin surface absorb oxygen from the water. Because the species requires cool, well-oxygenated, clean-running water to survive, hellbenders are a major indicator of the overall health of a river or stream.

The adult is one of the largest species of salamanders in North America, with its closest relatives being giant salamanders in China and Japan, which can reach 5 feet or more in length.

The Restoration

MDC partnered with the Ron and Karen Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation, a part of the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute, and other agencies in the early 2000s to breed salamanders in captivity and rear eggs collected from the wild in order to combat drastic population declines.

Once the captive-bred larvae reached between 3 to 8 years old, they were released in their native Ozark aquatic ecosystem. Biologists began releasing a few zoo-raised hellbenders in Missouri in 2008, increasing the number to 1,000 or more a year in 2012. Since the conception of the breeding and raising of this animal in captivity, more than 10,000 Ozark and eastern hellbenders raised at the zoo and MDC hatchery have been released into their native rivers.

Biologists have monitored the population status of both wild animals and released animals reared in captivity, as well as locating natural nests in rivers during the fall in order to collect eggs that can be reared and released in the future.

“The majority of the hellbenders existing in the wild and all 10,000-plus released animals have a small chip embedded under their skin with a unique number to allow us to identify the animals in future encounters,” Briggler explained.

Ready To Breed

Though many have been released to the wild, most of the hellbenders are only just now becoming mature enough to breed. Because very few nests with eggs are found each year, capturing the event of a male attending a clutch of eggs is a rare event.

“We’re lucky to find 20 nests in the wild a year, and finding a tagged father that was raised at the zoo was like finding a needle in a haystack,” Briggler said. “We have been patiently waiting for this significant achievement to occur.”

In October, 2022, biologists found that needle when they came across a tagged male Ozark hellbender that was tending a clutch of 128 healthy, well-developed eggs on the Current River. On a later visit, the biologists saw that the eggs were starting to hatch and the father was protecting them.

The male hellbender was collected from a natural nest of eggs in the Current River in the fall of 2013 by MDC and National Park Service staff, then transported to the zoo, where the eggs were hatched and reared.

“We have a dedicated team of hellbender keepers, life-support systems technicians, and veterinary staff who work tirelessly to make sure these animals get the best care possible,” explained Justin Elden, zoo curator of herpetology and aquatics.

From Eggs To Adults

The zoo has nearly 20 years of experience and expertise in rearing hellbenders and has their care down to an exact science.

“This experience allowed for this animal to flourish for the six years it was reared at the zoo and to prepare for its release to the wild,” Elden said. “Caring for hellbenders through their lives, from tiny eggs to sub-adults, takes a tremendous amount of work, but it’s absolutely worth it, knowing we’re aiding in the conservation of wild animals and wild places.”

The hellbender animal was released into the Current River in July 2019.

“At the time of release, the male weighed 5.6 ounces and measured 11.8 inches,” Elden said. “At the time his nest was discovered in the fall of 2022, he weighed 8.9 ounces and measured 14.4 inches.”

Briggler said it was probably the animal’s first year reproducing.

“It was exciting to not only see the growth and healthy appearance of this father after living three years in the wild, but to also see such a healthy animal successfully reproduce,” said Briggler.

Earning Their Wrinkles

Eggs generally hatch in about 45 days, but it can take longer with colder water conditions. Upon hatching, the helpless larvae will slowly grow and develop limbs under the protection of the father for several months. In late winter or early spring, the larvae will venture outside the nesting chamber to disperse into the surrounding river habitat. Larvae will breathe with external gills for a few years before they finally absorb their gills and take on the wrinkly appearance of an adult.

“Finding a zoo-raised Ozark hellbender reproducing in the wild is one of the greatest accomplishments for our Zoo’s WildCare Institute conservation efforts, and we are incredibly proud to be partnered with MDC on saving this species,” Elden said.

In addition to the zoo, MDC partnered with the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to enhance propagation efforts to ensure hellbenders remain a part of the region’s biodiversity.

“It is our hope that such wild breeding events by zoo-reared hellbenders will increasingly become more common as more released animals become mature,” Briggler said.

For more about hellbenders, see the MDC Online Field Guide at https://short.mdc. mo.gov/4M9 and also Wildcare Institute at https://short.mdc. mo.gov/4MC

Wrangling from page 22 and unfazed. The resident cat lost most of its hair from the fumes.

The attic mice, however, felt it would be best to relocate to the lower portion of the house and are currently occupying the same space as the owner – and one hairless cat.

‘GET HERE FAST!’

But one of the best examples of desperate innovation began when the call came in from a panic-stricken lady, her voice cadence rivaled that of any tobacco auctioneer, and with each word the pitch elevated to where most dogs couldn’t begin to hear it.

I calmed her down, saying, “I have to understand your problem in order to help you.”

Finally, she gulped enough air and said, “There’s a viper or asp coiled up on top of my husband’s golf bag in the garage. It’s gray with black diamonds on its back. No rattles on the tail, so it’s not a rattlesnake. It’s tangled up in the clubs and is just sitting there, flicking its tongue at us.

She continued, “My sons want to kill it, but I’m afraid it might bite them or get away. We need you to get here fast!”

After three attempts, she took my suggestion and lowered her voice to within my narrow hearing range. I was then able to secure her address.

While loading up my snake equipment, I got to thinking about her snake descriptions. When I think of asps, I conjure up something like Egyp - tian cobras or such. Nothing like that around here. Vipers? That’s a wide range of venomous snakes, which can be found around here. But the colors and patterns didn’t add up. By then, I had my own suspicions of what I would be dealing with.

Scene Of The Crime

Fifteens minutes later I pulled into the driveway and sat there for a bit, just soaking up the scene before me. There was one whom I would say was Mom, sitting on a large John Deere lawn tractor parked just outside the garage door with the engine running.

An 8-year-old boy stood nearby, wearing a football helmet and carrying a Red Ryder BB gun. A lad of about 16 was posted just inside the garage, armed with a hockey stick and sporting a hockey mask and gloves.

I extracted my snake tongs and gloves from behind the seat then snatched up a lidded plastic bucket in which to place the quarry.

As I advanced toward the trio, Mom shut off the mower and pointed to the garage’s interior. Walking past the well-armed youths, I spied the golf bag, and the reason I’d been called – just as I suspected, a juvenile black rat snake. They are fairly easy to identify, consisting of a uniformly gray background with a vivid pattern of dark brown or black blotches running down the back.

I slowly moved in and gently pinched the serpent into the tongs, unraveled its coils from the 5-iron and the 4 wood driver, then slipped “Junior” into the plastic bucket and snapped down the lid.

You would have thought I had just captured a man-eating tiger barehanded from the cheers, salutes, and overhead waving of primitive weaponry from the family pod.

A NEFARIOUS PLAN!

I explained there was really no need for alarm, as it wasn’t an asp or viper, but just a teen-age black snake. It didn’t matter to them. The wicked witch was gone!

But I had to ask the lady what was the reason behind the mower and armaments? She said they had formed a plan that the youngest boy would sneak in close with the BB gun and get off a shot. The older boy would then use the hockey stick to flick the wounded reptile from the garage, and then she would barrel over the beast with the John Deere – blades engaged!

IF ONLY!

I had to laugh, thinking that if this had happened, when the husband got home he would have found blood, bone and scales sprayed all over his pristine Wilson golf bag and clubs.

You’ve got to love good old innovation!

Tips, Tricks and Thoughts for the Great Outdoors