(water rushing)
(epic music)
(underwater gurgling)
- Yes! - Wow!
(jungle music)
West Virginia has an endless expanse of nature
and is famously known for being a wild
and wonderful place to explore.
Its vast, rolling mountains span across the entire length
of the state and hiding deep within them
is a plethora of wildlife.
Today we are exploring an incredibly healthy ecosystem
near Elkins.
In a secret location that we are not allowed to reveal
as it is heavily protected for conservation purposes.
We have special permissions to explore this location
and are working alongside field herpetologist, Tim Brust.
Tim specializes in surveying protected wilderness areas
where he safely catches, records,
and releases reptiles and amphibians.
What you got there, Tim?
- What we have here is a Northern Water Snake.
- Our mission is going to be anything but easy
as the goal is to locate one of the rarest amphibians
in the great state of West Virginia;
a Giant Salamander that is known as the Hellbender.
Wow.
There's the river.
(grand music)
And in there is where we'll be searching for Hellbenders.
It's absolutely beautiful.
And right now we're scouting around for a place
to build a base camp and, basically, all of this river
that you see in the background here is fair game
for Hellbenders, so in these ripples are great spots,
there're a lot of huge, flat rocks.
So I'll be in the water with a dive mask on,
feeling around for Giant Salamanders.
This is gonna be awesome.
There's no good word to describe what it takes
to find and catch a Hellbender other than difficult.
The fast-flowing water is incredibly cold.
So much so that we're forced to wear dive suits.
Dive masks will allow us to see underwater
as we literally have to scan the river basin
and look into the dark crevices of rocks
with a slim hope of seeing a pair of big, buggy eyes
looking right back at us.
I am about to stick my face into the water,
hold on, I gotta get a little.
Yeah, that's real cold.
That is real cold, okay.
Here we go, alright guys, wish me luck.
Searching for a Hellbender is an incredibly delicate process
and our intention was to disturb the environment
as little as possible.
This means gently feeling up and under rocks
as opposed to flipping them.
The last thing we wanted to do was alter
a potential Hellbender home as they're very territorial
and will often stay in one area
for a considerable amount of time.
This is unbelievably freezing, to have your complete body
submerged in this frigid water.
I can't even feel my fingers right now.
Wow, okay, I don't know how Tim's doing this.
- Nothing yet.
But it is freezing.
- [Coyote] Our epic Hellbender hunt went on for hours.
At this point, I was completely frozen
and ready to call it a day.
Yet Tim absolutely refused to give up
and his persistence finally paid off.
Got one?
- [Cameraman] We got one?
- Hellbender looked me right in the face.
- [Cameraman] We got a Hellbender.
(magical music)
- Okay, so we have a Hellbender, 100%,
right here underneath this rock.
Tim's gonna use a gentle maneuver to coax it out
and I'm gonna try to scoop it up in the net.
- [Cameraman] Is it big?
- It appears to be, is it big?
- [Cameraman] Tim says it's big.
- It's a big one.
Alright, the Hellbender is right near
the entrance of this hole.
We have a really good chance in actually catching it.
(water bubbling)
(intense music)
- Right here. - I see him.
We got him!
(crew cheers)
Oh man, Tim! - Yeah!
- That was amazing.
The coax and the net.
In all fairness, - Yeah!
- Tim did net - Yes.
- the Hellbender. - Yes.
- It went right underneath his legs.
There it is, it is an absolute giant.
- Yes! - Wow!
- That was the hardest Hellbender I've ever had.
- Wow. - Oh man.
- That was an amazing maneuver.
He just grabbed the net from my hand,
it shot out, in between his legs, and he netted it.
Wow, that was incredible.
Look at the size of that Giant Salamander.
- [Tim] That's a big one.
- [Coyote] That's a big one?
- [Tim] That's a good one, yeah.
- [Coyote] Wow.
- [Cameraman] Man, what a
weird-- - Gorgeous.
- [Cameraman] What a weird creature.
- Most bizarre salamander I have ever seen.
Okay, we need to find ourselves a good, controlled spot
in decent light and get the salamander
up close for the cameras.
- Alright. - You ready?
- Yeah, man. - There it is.
Yes, we got one.
Alright, guys, well it was a long, cold day
in the river but we finally did it.
Alright, Tim, bring in the Hellbender.
Oh.
There is it, one of the most elusive creatures
you can possibly come across in the United States.
- [Cameraman] What?
- And the largest salamander species
that we have here in North America.
Look at that, that is a Hellbender.
Very, very slippery, very difficult to hold onto.
You notice how flattened the shape
of this amphibian's body is.
That's what allows them to easily slide underneath
the crevices in between rocks and then work their bodies
against the current as they're walking
on the basin of a river, looking for food.
Look at the head, completely flat.
Have you ever seen anything like that before?
Some people call it the Allegheny Alligator,
some people call it the Mud Dog, the Mud Devil.
My personal favorite, though, is Snot Otter.
And it feels as if it is covered in snot.
And you can see this brownish colored body,
very long and slender, makes it look like an otter.
- Wow. - But in fact,
we do know this is an amphibian and not a mammal.
- [Cameraman] It does feel snotty.
- [Coyote] Right?
That's why you can see it's so hard for me to hold onto it.
One thing that I can feel that you guys can't quite see
is that, on the tips of their toes, they have
these little grippy pads.
Tim, see if you can kinda fold up a foot there.
And show that to the camera.
See the little kind of orange fingertips there?
- [Cameraman] Now are those slimy or are those grippy?
- Those are very grippy.
That helps these amphibians grab onto the slimy rocks
on the basin of the river.
Look at that coloration, though, right.
Let me kinda tilt it down, can you see that?
Brown with slightly orange patterning
allows it to stay perfectly camouflaged
on the basin of the river.
And you can see the up front there.
Kinda zoom in on those eyes, see how tiny they are?
They have very poor eyesight.
They can sense light but they actually
have all these little light receptors
all over their bodies and they can also sense vibrations
in the water.
They use that ability to sense vibrations
to help them hunt for their food.
And then look at the tail.
The tail is like a rudder.
Can you see that?
And that's how they're capable of making quick bursts
of movement underwater, if they need to,
like when it first came out from underneath the rock,
it shot out and Tim magically somehow managed
to scoop it up in the net.
Now they're primarily nocturnal, that's when they come out
and do their hunting and 90% of this amphibian's diet
is made up of crayfish.
They will eat small fish, they will take
other little invertebrates and, believe it or not,
a large on like this will even eat other Hellbenders.
They're very, very territorial and oftentimes
a smaller Hellbender may lose its life
to a larger one like this if it wanders in
to the wrong neighborhood.
I'm just in such awe of this creature right now,
it is unbelievably incredible.
Like, I never thought I would ever see
a salamander this big.
Now, it is the largest species of salamander
in North America and the third largest species
of salamander in the world.
Third only to the Giant Chinese and Japanese Salamander.
And look at that little face.
How adorable is this creature?
It's kinda staying pretty calm at the moment,
I'm gonna dip him back down into the water.
I need to make sure that this amphibian
stays hydrated at all times.
Here, Mark, come over top.
Now, let me show you these lateral skin flaps.
This is one of the most interesting things
about these amphibians.
Can you see this?
- Sure can. - See those flaps?
These flaps actually help them oxygenate.
And they absorb all their oxygen through the water.
Well hello.
Hi there.
What's your name?
Shall we name you?
Herbie?
Herbie the Hellbender?
(water bubbles) (salamander squeaks)
- [Cameraman] I think that's a yes.
- Yeah, he gave me a little squeak and blew some bubbles.
Well, it's interesting because they breathe through
their skin and scientists actually aren't sure
if they use their lungs to breathe
or just for buoyancy underwater.
And right there, I would definitely say that
it kinda looked like it came up for air.
At least, it exerted some air from its lungs,
probably so that it could get down to the bottom
of this tub of water.
Now, one thing that I do want to do, very quickly here,
is actually get the length of this Hellbender.
We're gonna do a little biometric research here.
Trying to get it completely stretched out here.
Tip of the snout to tip of the tail.
- [Cameraman] I think with the bend it's 20.
- [Coyote] That looks like a 20 inch Hellbender right there.
Wow, 20 inches in length.
- [Cameraman] So, Coyote, how old is this amphibian?
- [Coyote] Well, nobody really knows for sure
how long they can live but some scientists think
they can live as long
as 70 years. - Wow.
- I would guess that this one, based on its size,
is probably somewhere between 25 and 30 years of age.
- [Cameraman] So about as old as we are?
- Yeah, pretty much, this is an old creature
and they're very susceptible to pollution.
This is what we call an indicator species
and the fact that we've found one here in this river
is a really good sign that the water system
is in fact healthy.
Now their larvae are the ones that are most susceptible
to pollution but, because they absorb so much
of the environment through their skin like all amphibians,
if it's a polluted area, it's not a good chance
that they're gonna survive.
Well it was one very long and very frigid day,
searching the rivers of West Virginia,
but we finally came across the elusive Hellbender.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave,
stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
Alright, let's get this salamander back into the water.
Over the past century, Hellbender populations
have greatly declined.
And while the species is not officially listed
as being endangered, or even threatened,
it is protected across its range
and strong conservation efforts are helping
to preserve the species.
Organizations like West Liberty University,
which has the largest Hellbender conservation facility
in West Virginia, are currently head starting Hellbenders
for release into the wild, helping to ensure
a hopeful future for these giant amphibians.
Alright, there he goes, back up underneath his rock.
Yes, alright, well, Herbie is back in the wild.
High fives, Tim, amazing job,
that was one wild adventure.
Alright, guys, let's get out of this river
and warm up.
I know that I will never forget my time spent
in that freezing cold river, working alongside Tim
and the moment he successfully netted
that incredible creature.
We got him!
And as it disappeared back into its dark watery lair,
I felt a sense of overwhelming gratitude
for being given the chance to get up close
with the one and only Hellbender.
If you thought the Hellbender was bizarre-looking,
make sure to go back and check out the episode
where I was inked by the Brown Sea Hare, gross.
And don't forget, subscribe
so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
Wow, I never knew that slugs had eyes before.
(bear growls) (eagle cries)