Help the Hellbender

10/23/2026

Herbie the Hellbender has been busy this week!
He visited the Floyd County IN, Trunk or Treat and hung out at Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources' Fall into Nature community event!

10/16/2026

As hellbenders get closer to hatching, the egg membrane starts to shrink around them.

The light gray area on their head is rougher and helps to cut through the egg membrane!

10/09/2026

Learn more about some of the Hellbender work going on in Kentucky!

10/08/2026

It's that time of year again!
We have a new clutch of hellbender eggs to raise for release in 2031!
These little hellbenders will hatch in a week or two!

10/07/2026

Great work Ohio!!

The endangered hellbender is returning to Ohio streams as conservationists work to restore the unique amphibian. See link below ⬇️

📸 Provided by Jim McCormac

10/01/2026

The only time you can tell a male and female hellbender apart is in the fall during the breeding season!
Males have donut-like swelling around their cloacas, while females don't.

09/24/2026

Larval hellbenders go through metamorphosis between 1 and 2 years old.
Their gills are slowly reabsorbed after they start developing the lateral folds on their sides where most of their oxygen absorption happens!
It's less dramatic than the metamorphosis that frogs and other salamanders go through, but it is still a big change for their body!

# metamorphosis

09/18/2026

Love a good partnership!

The Louisville Zoo has joined an initiative to raise eastern hellbenders until they're strong enough to survive in the wild. Their survival could signal whether Kentucky's rivers are truly healthy: https://www.whas11.com/article/life/animals/louisville-zoo-raises-hellbenders-to-protect-one-of-kentuckys-most-unique-species/417-0ce7f7dd-5b41-48d3-ad96-a239173f836d?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_WHAS11_News

09/17/2026

Here's a look at some undergrad field work this summer!
They are checking tracking some of our released hellbenders, recording macro invertebrate species and abundance, deploying leaf packs and measuring other parameters in the river.
This is all part of a graduate student project at Purdue!

09/17/2026

Have you heard about the new Help the Hellbender Minecraft Conservation Quest? If you know a teacher, ask them to check it out for classroom use! Find out more at:

https://ag.purdue.edu/department/extension/hellbender/minecraft.html