Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff Lauren vocal Bomb. Here picture a remote freshwater stream somewhere in the eastern United States. The water is cool, there's a reasonably fast current, and the bottom is littered with big flat rocks. Sounds peaceful, doesn't it. What you're imagining is a perfect environment for trout and for something else too. Every so often, anglers who cast their lines in such places wind up catching North America's biggest salamander.
This thing leaves an impression. Specimens measuring twees long that's seventy three have been documented, and the beefiest adults wagh four to five pounds that's about two to two and a half kilos. These four legged amphibians have compressed heads and torsos, meaning that, judging by outward appearance, could think someone had squished these critters flat with a rolling pin. Another key attribute is their browned to grayish skin, which
hangs noticeably loose around their flanks. Early settlers didn't know what to make of these guys. Baffled by their appearance, some folks began calling them snot otters, devil dogs, or mud devils. The species wouldn't receive its formal scientific name Crypto branches alleganiensis until eight o three, but nowadays most people know this strange salamander as the hell bender. Hellbenders are divided into two subspecies. Northern Arkansas and southern Missouri
are the home of the endangered Ozark hell bender. The eastern hellbender has a broader distribution, having spread itself across the Greater Appalachian region and parts of the Midwest, though sadly it's also got conservationists worried. Some amphibians are equally at home on land and in the water, but hellbenders are more or less totally aquatic. Their skin absorbs oxygen, pulling it straight out of the water. That leaves hellbenders at the mercy of pollutants and the excess silt and
runoff dumped into their streams by forest clearing projects. Sure it doesn't help. One report published in two thousand seven by the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that the ozark hellbender will become functionally extinct by the year twenty
twenty six in less protective measures are taken. As of twenty nineteen, it was still classified as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which has said that, in some good news, most populations of the Eastern hellbender are not in danger of extinction and therefore do not warrant
listing under the Endangered Species Act. To help boost populations of the Ozark hellbender, the St. Louis Zoo teamed up with the Missouri Department of Conservation and established a successful breeding program in twenty eleven, and just last year, Pennsylvania raised awareness about this wonderful species by naming the Eastern hellbender its official state amphibian. Maybe such efforts will improve the salum enders pr There's a pervasive belief that the
hellbender has a venomous bite, but this is untrue. The hellbender wield no venom, and despite rumors to the contrary, the amphibians do not hurt game fish populations. Crawfish make up over the hellbender's diet. Other potential prey items include tadpoles, smaller salamanders, and small fish. The creatures are most active at night. They spend their days taking refuge under submerged
logs or stream bottom rocks. Hellbenders avoid humans, but they will aggressively defend their territories against fellow members of their species. So unless you are a rival salamander, a potential mate, or a yummy crawfish, these beasties would just as soon leave you alone. Disposition wise, they couldn't be less hellish. Maybe it's time to start calling them heckbenders. Today's episode was written by Mark Fancini and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other heckish topics,
visit how stuff works dot com. Green Stuff is a production of my heart Radio. For more podcasts in my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.