Love To Stack Rocks? Don’t Be a Hellbender Homewrecker!
Love To Stack Rocks? Don’t Be a Hellbender Homewrecker!
Hellbenders are the largest salamanders in the US. Photo: David Herasimtschuk
You may be a hellbender home wrecker and not even know it. But first what the hell is a hellbender, also affectionately called a snot otter? This saga begins as a love story. A what? This is getting intriguing!
Stacking Rocks
Stacking rocks can be a death sentence for hellbenders. Photo: Corrie Woods
After hiking one day, my sister Corrie Woods, who happens to be the marketing brilliance behind Lichty Guitars, posts a photo on Facebook. While wandering through one of our North Carolina forests, she comes across stacks of rocks in a river.
After posting a picture of the rock stacks, a friend of ours comments on why she and her husband stopped stacking stones. But why, we wonder, as we always thought it was cool to see the piles of zen-like rocks in streams.
“The Last Dragons”
Not only does her comment catch our attention but she includes a link to a video that knocks our rocks off. You’ll see a stone sculptor theme throughout our blogs. Catchy, yes? Hmmm.
The video, “The Last Dragons-Protecting Appalachia’s Hellbenders” introduces us to an incredible prehistoric salamander, the hellbender, which lives in our rivers along the East coast of the US.
Hellbenders are only found in the eastern states of the US. Illustration: Peppermint Narwhal
Falling In Love
Dale checking out a hellbender at the WNC Nature Center.
As we watch the video, we fall in love. In love with a giant salamander!
And as you might remember, Dale & I fell in love at first sight and got engaged in 8 days so we fall in love easily! To read more of our story, check out A Love Story in Stone.
Then we discovered a hellbender lives at the WNC Nature Center in Asheville, NC, and of course, we had to see him. And yes, we confirmed it is a male, and his name is Meatloaf. What a cool name for such a magnificent animal.
We learn that hellbenders grow up to 2 feet long and their populations have significantly declined for many reasons. One reason is stone stacking.
You see, hellbenders live under rocks in rivers. And they love their rock homes and rarely stray far. Move their rock, they can literally die. To learn more about hellbenders, read our blog Hellbenders.
Hellbender Sculpture
Dale Weiler’s sculpture “Hellbenders Rock”.
Once we learned about these giant salamanders, Dale was out looking at a big, old piece of alabaster he had in his rock pile. After studying the rock, he announced: “there is a hellbender in there.”
Fast forward 6 months with a lot of stone chiseling, grinding, sanding and stone dust, Dale was finished with his sculpture. And by the way, it is named “Hellbenders Rock.” How fitting!
Please Save My Hellbender Home!
Dale with his sculpture Hellbenders Rock at the NC Zoo.
So if you happen to be hiking, the hellbenders politely request you not move their rocks. You really don’t want to be labeled a homewrecker, do you?
And if you are visiting a nature center or zoo, see if they have hellbenders. You will definitely impress your friends & family with photos of this cool-looking animal.
And to see “Hellbenders Rock”, visit The Streamside exhibit at the NC Zoo.
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