St. Louis Zoo breeds endangered amphibians

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Zoo says it has hatched endangered Ozark hellbender salamanders, the first ever bred in captivity, and hopes to release them into Missouri rivers.

The hatching was the culmination of a 10-year effort in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Conservation to breed the Ozark hellbenders, one of two subspecies of the giant salamander native to southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday.

The animals would be released into Missouri rivers when they reach maturity in about three to eight years, zoo officials said.

To encourage breeding, the zoo created a 32-foot simulated stream complete with the rocks and other natural features of the Ozarks.

"You can't just breed these things in a standard aquarium, even a 100-gallon one," Jeff Ettling, the zoo's curator of herpetology and aquatics, said. "You need space -- a lot of space."

Only about 600 hellbenders are believed to live in the waters of south-central Missouri and northern Arkansas where as many as 8,000 once lived, officials said.

"We have a 15- to 20-year window to reverse this decline," Jeff Briggler, a herpetologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said in a statement. "We don't want the animal disappearing on our watch."