When you think about where giant salamanders come from, most people would normally associate them with China and Japan. Yet while it is true that almost all members of the giant salamander family, the
Cryptobranchidae, originate in Asia there is one species which calls the eastern United States its home. It is
Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, known otherwise and popularly as the hellbender.
Why this giant salamander, which can grow up to 30 inches in length, acquired this name is lost to history. Some say it is because of its strange looks which bewildered early European settlers who imagined that it was a creature from the underworld, bent on returning there. While this is hardly fair, it is not its only unflattering moniker: it also goes by the names mud-devil, devil-dog and more recently, the snotty otter. The first name, as we shall see is the most inaccurate: the hellbender doesn’t like mud one little bit.
Their skills eluded observation until early this century, but you can add another animal on to the list of those who have developed the ability to glide. Joining snakes, squirrels, frogs and lizards with those superhero-like gliding skills is a species of ant. 
And what an Ant! The Darth Vader of the insect world, Cephalotes atratus, inhabits the canopy of the tropical forest systems of Central and South America. That’s a long way up and if an ant was to fall it would lead to almost certain death on the floor of the forest. Either that or a trip that would make The Incredible Journey look like a walk in the park, but one which would probably be impossible due to the lack of chemical trails to guide the ant back home.