Springtime Brings Vernal Pools and Salamanders

by Donna Cottingham, Master Naturalist

March is a good time to look for salamanders during moist spring weather as they move out of dormancy to breed in vernal pools. What appears as a mud puddle to an untrained eye is actually a small natural phenomenon - and an important ecosystem in the delicate ( Read more... )

"Using long-exposure imaging, the researchers detected algal fluorescence inside the developing salamander."

news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/04/scienceshot-green-eggs-and-salamanders.html

www.pnas.org/content/108/16/6497
( Read more... )

Do you see what we mean?  If you begin researching one creature, such as the "lowly" salamander, you will find that everything IS connected!  Today we googled "Salamander Etiquette" and look what we came up with.  I mean.

1)  A sit-com starring a salamander who salivates.
www.toonutproductions.com/salivating_salamander_pid.html

2)  Salamanders ( Read more... )

Hi teachers of small humans! 
Copyright Susan Caplan.

Here's a chance to increase awareness about salamanders (and ourselves) in a fun way, which culminates in a wild dance.  Excerpt:

"Cut a nine-inch piece of paper (or draw and cut out a nine-inch long salamander) and set it on the ground so the children have a better perspective of what it is ( Read more... )

From Sarah Suleski's short story, Elevator. 
.....“I shall write you a salamander haiku,” he nodded, ripping his poem about rain from the notepad......
srsuleski.com/short-stories/elevator/

Decaying leaves hide
The soul’s slithering promise
A salamander.

From this website.  www.herpsofnc.org/herpcons.html

Speaking of LARGE salamanders, the Neuse River waterdog (Necturus lewisi) typically grows to a length of about eleven inches. It has a reddish brown body with an irregular pattern of large blue or black spots. The waterdog has a laterally compressed tail the same coloration as the body, ( Read more... )

Yes, you may have thought salamanders are mere little sprites that hide beneath rocks and scurry away from humans.  That may be so in some cases, but not so for the HELLBENDER.  Even the name signals attention and respect.  The hellbender is a large salamander with a flat body shape and wrinkled folds of skin on its sides. Like other salamanders ( Read more... )

Right now, the salamander hides in the woods, waiting for spring.  Come springtime?  Read on (from centredaily.com)....

Salamanders leave it all on the line for love Amorous amphibians must dodge drivers during Scotia migration
by Nick Malawskey   - nmalawsk@centredaily.com   written March 16, 2010 3:54pm EDT

During the next two weeks, a ( Read more... )