Standing in a stream with snorkeling gear and gloves, Hellbender conservationists removed the serpentine salamanders from their tanks and placed them underwater under suitable rocks.
The team has introduced more than 100 creatures to Middle Tennessee waterways since launching a program to revive the state’s endangered hellbender population, the Nashville Zoo said May 23.
With the latest release, 27 of those hellbenders are back home.
The salamanders were collected from the wild as eggs and brought to the Nashville Zoo to hatch and grow. The zoo has been collecting eggs since 2018 and these salamanders are the fourth group to be released back into the wild since 2021, according to conservationists.
“We are honored to help this state-endangered salamander species and work to strengthen their population in the wild,” zoo officials said in the news release.
Eastern hellbenders are the largest species of salamander in America, ranging from 12 to 29 inches long and weighing up to 5 pounds, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
This type of newt does not have gills as an adult and instead absorbs oxygen through its skin.
“Early settlers thought these strange-looking animals resembled creatures from hell that were ‘determined’ to return, and thus were given the common name Hellbender,” according to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
In addition to the common name, the salamanders are also called snototters.
The zoo has experimented with different methods to maintain a genetically diverse population.
In 2012, the zoo bred two captive Hellbenders using artificial fertilization, and in 2015, conservationists hatched a Hellbender from an egg that was fertilized with cryopreserved sperm.
“We can maintain that genetic diversity with far fewer animals and far fewer resources,” said Dale McGinnity of the Nashville Zoo. “That is why we are very enthusiastic about the development of these techniques.”
Species conservation efforts for the great salamanders are also in the works in other states. In 2022, Missouri conservationists released their 10,000th hellbender into the wild, McClatchy News reported.
The Nashville Zoo partnered with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Tennessee State University.
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