The National Humane Education Society
www.nhes.org
Name:
Eastern Hellbender
Most salamanders are little, but the Eastern Hellbender can easily grow to be 2 feet
long! That’s about 6 inches longer than your computer keyboard! Eastern Hellbenders
live in rural areas of Appalachian states like West Virginia and North Carolina. Although
they are big, hellbenders are rarely seen. One reason is that they don’t come on land.
Instead, they spend their entire lives in the water, usually at the bottom of a river or
streambed. Their brown and black mottled skin serves as camouflage to help them
blend in with the mossy river stones. At the bottom of the river, they walk against the
current with their thick legs and powerful tail. Hellbenders love to eat crayfish, which
they hunt at night and devour whole. Because they hunt by smell, hellbenders
sometimes try to eat fish bait (much to the surprise of the fisherman!). Hellbender eggs
take 45 to 60 days to hatch. During this period, they are protected only by the father. If
the baby hellbenders survive to adulthood, they can live up to 29 years! Unfortunately,
this amazing animal is becoming rare. Their already-limited range is shrinking as
pollution and sediment (grit and dirt) fill their watery habitats. Hellbenders are more
likely to thrive in rivers in National Parks and other protected public lands where roads
and buildings are less common.
Hellbenders use their powerful tail and thick legs to
_ _ _ _ against the current of a river or stream.
__________
helps hellbenders
blend in with mossy
river stones.
Hellbenders use their sense of
_ _ _ _ _ to find prey.
Is each statement true or false?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Female hellbenders protect their eggs.
Public lands help protect hellbender habitat.
Hellbenders come on land for fiddle music.
Hellbenders can live up to their late 20’s.
Eastern hellbenders live in California.
True
True
True
True
True
False
False
False
False
False
Draw a line from each word in List 1 to a word or phrase in List 2
that has a similar meaning.
Example:
List 1
List 2
Habitat
Predator
Home
List 1
List 2
Threatened
Eat
Sediment
Lives in water
Aquatic
Countryside
Crayfish
Rare
Devour
Crawdad
Rural
Dirt
Rare