Dr. Peter Petokas partners with the Bronx Zoo to raise juvenile hellbenders from eggs collected in the wild. The zoo hatch - es the eggs and keeps them for a couple years. Next, Petokas and his team take them and raise them in tanks designed to replicate streams before they are released into the wild. Images were taken during a 2021 release.
“So, there are multiple factors, multiple stressors that probably interact in some syner - gistic fashion to topple over populations that are on the edge.” As to the exact reason why animals are dying off, he admitted that no one knows for sure because they aren’t monitored 24/7. “We don’t typically see them dying,” he said. “Most of it seems to occur during the winter when nobody is out there looking and then they just aren’t there the following spring when we go back out.” Offsetting the trend Petokas’ work over the past 20 years with the species has focused on three main areas: Egg collection, reintroduction and habitat improvement. “We have reintroduced animals to the wild in 2018 and 2021, and they were three and a half years of age at time of release,” he said. Most of this work is done in tributaries of the upper Susquehanna located in southern New
York where Petokas has a partnership with a land trust. This group has protected sections of waterways which allowed him to improve habitat with artificial nest boxes. “These animals are doing very well. They are eating an abundance of crayfish which is sustaining their growth and they seem to be managing well,” he said. “The exciting part of this is not just that success, but that some of these animals are now reaching the age of 10. Hellbenders don’t reproduce until they are about nine or 10 years old, so what we are hoping to see this coming fall is some involve - ment in reproduction by these head-started reintroduced animals.
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