The eastern hellbender is one of the focal species for wildlife ecology. Hellbenders, also known as snot otters, are the largest salamanders in the U.S. and part of an ancient group of salamanders that were around during the age of dinosaurs. They live under rocks and cobble on the bottom of streams and rivers. Hellbenders are listed as endangered in Ohio and are declining across all of their range, as erosion runoff fills in their homes underneath rocks and pollution is absorbed through their s

HELLBENDERS: The 10,000th hellbender was released into the wild! MDC's Jeff Briggler tells us more about the importance of hellbenders below. | Missouri Dept. of Conservation