Hellbender breeding at St Louis zoo, USA

[Mark]

Ozark hellbenders have been bred in captivity - a first for either of the two subspecies of hellbender. The decade-long collaboration of the Saint Louis Zoo's Ron Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation and the Missouri Department of Conservation has yielded 63 baby hellbenders.

Read the full article:

Baby Hellbenders: World's First Captive Hellbender Breeding at Saint Louis Zoo :: Saint Louis Zoo

 

[Logan]

I have been in the facility at STL zoo when my wife worked there and it is awe inspiring. They take it very serious and I believe at the time there were about 100+ hellbenders there. Too bad they don't make it viewable to the public. There are bleach mats on the floor before you enter the facility and on the way out as well. Its very sterile.
Logan

 

[Azhael]

Excellent, excellent news. Very well done, congratulations to the people involved, this is certainly an achievement.
I´d kill to get to see those wonderful babies in person, i hope that pictures of their development become available as they grow.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

This is great but how are they stopping the pollution and silt run off that has been the biggest reason for their decline? I don't see the habitat getting better for them if anything it will only get worse. Habitat is still being degraded and lost everyday. Still its great news that zoo's will be able to stop their total loss as a species. You just won't find them under any rocks anymore.

 

[Azhael]

That´s a very sad reality. It´s still a very important and impressive accomplishment, nevertheless. It opens up new possibilities and that´s always something to celebrate.
I do wish their situation in the wild would improve, though...it´s so depressing.

 

[NewtZoo]

This is great! A fellow grad student I work with used to be apart of the hellbender project at the St Louis zoo. He is very excited because all the sperm never seemed to be viable. They tried every method under the sun to get viable offspring. This is a great achievement.

 

[peter5930]

This is great! A fellow grad student I work with used to be apart of the hellbender project at the St Louis zoo. He is very excited because all the sperm never seemed to be viable. They tried every method under the sun to get viable offspring. This is a great achievement.

Does anyone know if hellbenders can regenerate their gonads? If the gonads of WC male hellbenders have been damaged by chemical pollution or infection (by chytrid, E. coli from septic tank leakage, parasitic nematodes or something else), I was wondering if surgical removal of the damaged gonads would cause the animal to replace them with healthy organs.

 

[ODell]

Simply awesome.:supercool: