Salamander Tadpole

Yesterday, just before the cool winds and rains blew in, my uncle took me down to his salamander pond. We found many tadpoles, their gills are like the mane of a Chinese dragon. This one was also getting its front legs. These amphibians are becoming more and more rare. That is why my uncle has dug a special pond for them to breed. We are all excited each year to see the next generation of salamanders tadpoles growing strong. Read more about the Ringed Salamander here!

Ringed Salamander Tadpoles

Ozark Zigzag

Along the trails, the Ozark Zigzag salamander has been spotted often in recent weeks under logs around the glade area at the Ozark Natural Science Center. This salamander is in the Plethodon family which is an amazing group of strange amphibians. They are lung-less salamanders that breath through their skin; therefore, they are very sensitive to pollution.  The Ozark Zigzag lays eggs in moist caverns or crevices deep in the earth. These eggs look like jelly marbles and are hung in a clear mucus-like sack suspended from the ceiling of their cavernous den. Parent salamanders stay with their eggs, watching over them until they are hatched.  When the offspring hatch they are not tadpoles like most amphibians; instead, they look like a smaller, baby version of their parents. Plethodons are unique among salamanders because their babies have no aquatic stage of life, defying the definition of amphibians!

Spotted Salamander

At the end of my hike today at the Ozark Natural Science Center I took my group down the pond and we peeked under the rocks and logs near there. I knew that with the first warm rains of spring we were likely to see the rarely viewed spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). This beautiful creature is very secretive and spends most of its time underground in short-tail shrew holes and winters in the deep holes of white footed mice. These holes are so necessary that the spotted salamander range matches that of these mammals. The spotted salamander is nocturnal and ventures out to eat worms, insects, spiders, and snails.
Once a year, on the first warm, rainy night in spring, these amphibians emerge and dance in fish-less ponds. They have an elaborate mating dance in which the males fertilize the females' eggs. The eggs are laid in a ball of jelly. After a while the jelly will turn green. This green tint is due to a symbiotic relationship the eggs have with a certain species of algae (Oophila ambystomatis). The algae provides oxygen for the developing salamander embryos while the embryos provide carbon dioxide and waste which is nutrients to the algae. This relationship is mutualist, meaning both species are benefiting from the each other.
Though these salamanders use to emerge in hoards back in the '80 and would fill the roads on warm, rainy nights. However, these days they are becoming harder and harder to find. Vehicles are one of the many ways they are often killed. Also, amphibians are very sensitive to pollution and acidic waters.  Salamanders, like all amphibians, are bio indicators and their decline signals a general presence of pollution in our ecosystems as well as a decline in our water quality. To protect this species it is important to keep 200-500 meters of deciduous forests around vernal ponds (or temporary pools that are fish-free) clean and devoid of toxins or an abundance of acidic plants such as evergreen trees. Lets protect natural places so that the spotted salamanders can survive.

Ringed Salamander (Ambystoma annulatum)

Taken by George Imrie on his farm south of Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
George has been laboring to provide a safe haven for these creatures.

The ringed salamander (Ambystoma annulatum) is secretive and endemic to the Ozarks. Once upon a time these salamanders were seen by the hundreds each autumn, but now you are lucky to see just one in your lifetime. These endangered amphibians live under log, rocks, and in the ground. Their main defense is to hide themselves away. They have soft black bodies striped with yellow so camouflage fails them. Their tiny legs make it look laborious to walk and they are fairly defenseless especially when as an egg or tadpole. Therefore, they live hidden, eating grubs and worms all year.

Once a year they emerge from hiding to mate and lay eggs in the clean fishless pond they were born in but finding clean water without fish is becoming harder and harder. The mating event always takes place on the first cool rainy night in autumn. This year we had a cool rainy night in late September, but then again this past week we had another similar night. The ringed salamander took advantage of both nights and matted twice this year. Both times, I was lucky enough to see one at the Ozark Natural Science Center where I work as a teacher/naturalist.

This first time I saw a ringed salamander it was trucking across the trail at theOzark Natural Science Center, ONSC, after the students had all been sent to bed in the lodges. Only the teacher naturalists remained awake and we were making our way to bed when we found a salamander out in the open on a trail near the pond. We watched it walk on stubby legs, its long fat tail slithering like a snake’s behind it. I felt privileged to witness its annual journey by night but disappointed that I didn’t have my camera.

The second time was during the day, after the rain we had this past week, when I had a group of students from Bentonville’s Baker Middle School. My group crowded around a log where we had found a ringed salamander hiding. It tried to dig itself to safety at first but eventually gave up and crawled along the ground close to the log. My students, a group of ten 5^th graders, were mesmerized. They sat silently watching it with awe and respect. I knew that this was the first time any of them had seen a salamander. Many of them didn’t even know what it was until I told them.

While they watched the salamander, I read and discussed all I knew about the species. I told the children that they only come out once a year, so this is a specially occasion. They lay from 300-500 eggs but 99 percent of those eggs will never mature into adults, many will be eaten as caviar, others as salamander tadpoles, and many more as young adults. The ones that survive will not be able to reproduce until five to eight years of age, which is a long time for such a venerable creature. Also by breathing through their skin any type of pollution in the water or soil will kill them. Their mere existence is a bio indicator of a pollution free environment. As they got to know this fantastic creature, I encouraged them to name it. They couldn't choose between Sally or Steve until I informed them that because it was smaller in size it was most likely a male but it would be hard to be sure. He became Steve the Salamander and with that he was no longer a forigen wild animal but a friend.

The experience changed their perspective immediatly. For the rest of our time together, two days and one night, they were respectful and in awe of everything we found. They named every caterpillar, spider, and millipede we found, befriending all species. An old man once told me, "You can't force children to grow up and protect nature, you have to teach them to love it, then they will WANT to protect it!" I think that Steve the Salamander may have taught these kids such love.