Hellish Salamanders Now Less Endangered

Remember going on field trips to the local river and seeing all those cute tiny salamanders and crawfish, then writing a report about how cute and tiny they were? Well, forget all that, because Eastern Hellbender Salamanders look like eels that learned how to crawl out of water.

But hey, that’s ok, because they used to be endangered and now, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and the Toledo Zoo, along with other wildlife officials, have released a new sizable population back into the Kokosing River, according to Columbus Dispatch article.

They were listed as endangered because of poor water quality throughout Ohio’s waterways, an issue that not only affects wildlife but human quality of life as well. If the quality of water is low, these aquatic creatures can suffocate due to lack of viable oxygen in the water.

Maybe soon we’ll be seeing these little demon swimmers around our nearby rivers, because a good population of hellbenders means our water is not polluted AF.

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