Amanda Lea & Chalmers Smith: Critter Story

Giant Salamander Home to the Ozarks Faces Extinction
An exotic animal known to the Ozarks area is drawing closer to extinction every year. The Ozark Hellbender is a known inhabitant to Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri, including Springfield areas. Many reasons, such as our growing economy, are causing the giant salamanders demise. Missouri State University and other organizations are working to find out why they are dying off and what we can do to stop it.
These interesting creatures are typically water-dwelling animals, and they can grow to be anywhere from one to two feet long. They live in steadily running streams with good water quality, and they are known to eat small fish. They hunt at night depending solely on smell and touch to find their food. Since they seek out anything that smells appetizing to them, they can potentially put themselves in danger. Not only do they depend on many different ways to scrounge for food, but they are also at a disadvantage. In contrast to fellow salamanders, the Hellbender can’t swim at all even though it dwells at the bottom of the river. Instead of swimming in the water, they crawl on the river’s bed camouflaged in the rock. Camouflage, however, is not the reason we aren’t seeing much of the Hellbenders today.

The decline was first noticed when fewer young Hellbenders were found in the streams. Professional opinion says the dropping population is due, in part, to human interference.
“Research has found that sperm counts are lower,” says Dr. Alicia Mathis, a professor at Missouri State University. “We believe this could be caused by pollutants in the water, although we’re not sure which ones.”
Not only pollutants, but logging, farming, construction, and waste are destroying their habitats. Furthermore, Mathis says that illegal collecting of the species during the 70s has made matters worse. Consequently, our growing city may be at fault.
In addition, natural causes are playing a role as well. Hellbenders do not become sexually mature until their sixth year, which allows for many to become eaten or uprooted before they can reproduce. Foreign fish such as the European Trout also play roles since they feed off the salamander. Normally, when a Hellbender senses danger they will freeze or hide, but since they do not have an instinctive trait telling them to hide from the trout, they stay put.
The decreasing population of these particular creatures may not seem important, but the loss can cause trouble in our stream’s ecosystem. For example, the salamanders eat small fish like Crayfish. Therefore, if there are not as many Hellbenders, then the Crayfish population will increase. This chain could cause other plant and animal populations to decrease as well.
So, what are we doing to help? According to Mathis, a lot is being done. For months, Missouri State University has been working on introducing a ‘threat scent’ to the species so they will recognize dangerous fish. Still, more research is needed.
“First we need to know what fish pose danger to the Hellbenders before anything can be done,” Mathis says.
This would allow Hellbenders to sense danger and give them a chance to hide. However, the Hellbenders in the wild would not have the acquired scent. Furthermore, attempts to breed Hellbenders in a controlled environment are going on now in the basement of MSU’s Temple Hall. Mathis says they are still collecting eggs, but they haven’t had much luck. To learn more go to hellbender.org or ozarkhellbender.com, and find out how you can get involved in the efforts to save these endangered species. With joint effort and more awareness, more of these endangered reptiles could possibly be saved.