Displaying items by tag: hellbender research

Jonathan Cox (left), wetlands biology technician for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, looks in astonishment at an eastern hellbender captured while monitoring populations in Pisgah National Forest.  Ben Dalton/N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission 

Two-year study will gain insight into hellbender reproduction; special interest in Fontana Reservoir area and its watersheds 

Holly Kays is senior writer for Smokies Life.

GATLINBURG — With wrinkly skin that comes in various shades of brown, eastern hellbenders aren’t easy to spot. These giant salamanders, which average 20 inches in length, spend most of their lives nearly invisible under rocks on the bottom of cool, fast-flowing streams. In a two-year research project starting this summer, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will use a combination of technology and traditional survey techniques to solve the mystery surrounding the hellbender’s distribution in the Smokies.

“One of the major conservation questions is: Are hellbenders reproducing in our streams?” said Jonathan Cox, wetlands biology technician for the park. “And it’s really hard to find that out because their lifespan is so long that you can have a hellbender detected in a stream for multiple decades, but it may be the same individual.”

Hellbenders can live for 30 years or more, so figuring out whether the adults alive today are reproducing successfully is imperative to securing the species’ future. Hellbender populations have declined significantly over recent decades, leading the US Fish and Wildlife Service to propose that the salamander be listed as an endangered species. A public comment period on the listing proposal is open through February 11.

The species is listed as endangered in the state of Tennessee; zoo heads up years-long conservation effort

This Nashville Zoo blog post is reprinted with permission. 

NASHVILLE — Nashville Zoo’s ectotherm team, in partnership with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Tennessee State University, traveled to a waterway in Middle Tennessee to successfully release a total of 27 eastern hellbender salamanders back into the wild. These hellbenders had been raised since 2018 at the Zoo as part of a headstart program. Since the start of this conservation initiative, the Zoo has released more than 100 hellbenders into local Tennessee streams to help bolster the population of this state-endangered species.

The hellbenders released this year had been raised since 2018 at the Zoo as part of a headstart program, after being collected as eggs from streams in Middle Tennessee. Each animal was fitted with a radio transmitter earlier this year, allowing a team of graduate students to track and monitor the hellbenders throughout the summer. This is the fourth group of hellbenders to be released back into the wild since the summer of 2021.

The Chattanooga Zoo will soon open an exhibit to hellbenders, such as the one seen here in a tank at the zoo.  Courtesy Chattanooga Zoo

New hellbender exhibit at Chattanooga Zoo will serve as a hub for cooperative research

Thanks to grants from two generous organizations, some oft-elusive hellbenders have a new home at the Chattanooga Zoo. The Hiwassee Education and Research Facility is nearly complete, and it features hellbender exhibits and a classroom. The exhibit includes juvenile hellbenders hatched from eggs collected from the Duck River in central Tennessee in 2015.  

The zoo is also fabricating a stream environment exhibit that will house nine larger sub-adult hellbenders, each about 10 years old and 14.5 inches long. Visitors can observe hellbenders feeding in the completed exhibit, but it will be open only during limited hours. After the project’s completion, the zoo plans to partner with researchers who hope to learn more about hellbenders. 

“The Chattanooga Zoo is thrilled at the introduction of its new Hiwassee Hellbender Research Facility,” zoo officials said in a statement to Hellbender Press. 

“We believe that this new facility will open rare opportunities for guests to be educated on this otherwise elusive native species, and that the project would lead to important strides made in hellbender research. 

“From all of this, our hope is for more conservation efforts made in our local waterways, also known as the eastern hellbender’s home.”