Eastern Hellbender
The eastern hellbender is a very large species of salamander inhabiting the eastern mountains ranges of North America. These salamanders are completely aquatic and can grow to 30 inches in length from head to tail. In the wild, hellbenders inhabit the bottoms of pollution-free, free-flowing rivers and streams. They are mainly found in the Susquehanna River drainage in southern New York and Pennsylvania. Also they can be found in large portions of the Missouri, Ohio, and Mississippi River drainages from western Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, extreme southern Indiana, most of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, northern Alabama and Georgia, western North Carolina and Virginia.Hellbenders are nocturnal; they hide under large rocks, logs or other shelter during the day. So large flat rocks would be necessary for their zoo habitat. Also they need a somewhat large habitat; they are not usually found in small creeks and streams. They need a few feet of depth and a rocky bottom to live comfortably. Hellbenders live with many other animals. Fish, crayfish, turtles, snakes and insects are few examples, along with all the plant life and algae. If I were creating a habitat for a zoo that would include my animal, I would try to make it
Over all, the habitat looked good compared to the rest that I saw at the zoo. There would be a stream of sorts all the way through the exhibit that ran parallel to the glass so that people could see all along the water. During the breeding season the male will aggressively guard the nest site from predators. The eastern hellbender is a very interesting animal. They have a flattened head and the skin is wrinkled and folded. There would be land on the far side of the stream that went up to the rock wall. The hellbender has a laterally compressed tail; its whole body shape makes it possible to fit under rocks and logs for protection. The animals would reproduce, eat and die with minimal outside interference. A good size for the enclosure would be about 30 or 40 feet of a stream which is about 5 to 10 feet wide, and a few feet of land that slopes up to the rock. The eyes are on the side of the head to create a wide field of vision to detect movement. I thought it would nice to set up a shelter rock for the hellbender that leaned against the glass, so that people could see the hellbender during the day. The water was very shallow, though, and was not moving. Outside of the breeding season (late August through early November) meetings between two hellbenders are usually violent.
Common topics in this essay:
Virginia Hellbenders,
August November,
North American,
North America,
Mississippi River,
,
York Pennsylvania,
Susquehanna River,
Kentucky Tennessee,
Alabama Georgia,
nest site,
people water,
rocks logs,
flat rocks,
rocky bottom,
hellbenders nocturnal,
habitat zoo,
rock wall,
breeding season,
glass front,
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Acceptance Essays
