Like Wade, following the names and descriptions associated with the Japanese Giant Salamander (Hynobius nebulosus, Andrias japonicus, Cryptobranchidae, just to name a few) finally led me to the Smithsonian Channel’s Nick Baker, and his adventures with the Hellbender, North America’s own Giant Salamander Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures. Yes, I knew I was back in the States when reading out the aliases of the Hellbender–“snot otter,” “mud-devil,” “grampus.”