Cave creatures often have the characteristics of animals unaccustomed to light. Their skin or scales are white, and their eyes range from “of little use” to purely ornamental. But that doesn’t stop southeastern Europe’s serpentine cave salamanders from diving to the surface from time to time.
This strange-looking animal is a cave salamander (peel), or proteus, a humble salamander Once thought to be descendants of dragons.researching publish Last month in the journal Ecology, a team of researchers described a surprising behavior of amphibians: They sometimes leave the relative safety of their underwater burrows for the surface.
This pigmentless cave salamander is only found in a few cave systems in countries such as Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. live to a century sometimes Stay motionless for years at a time. Although their larvae have eyes, they degenerate when the animals reach adulthood.
In 2022, a group of researchers CT scan of Olm’s brain, revealing even strange internal structures in salamanders. Its unique morphology is the result of the evolution of cave-dwelling animals, a process that evolved a specific set of characteristics suited to their dark, moist environment.
The team observed borers during the day and at night in 15 springs in eastern Italy; more borers were present in springs at night (28% of observation times) than during the day (14% of observation times). Borers were present in a spring 64% of the time observed. The researchers also handled 12 borers; five of the 12 earthworms spit them out when picked up. It is important to note that earthworms are species that live in surface soil, not earthworms that inhabit cave environments.
While the scrawny cave salamanders do require a monumental effort to move from their underground dwellings to their aboveground springs, they make it all worth it.A co-author of the paper Tell New York Times Some cave salamanders caught in surface waters were “very plump,” suggesting the animals fed on worms they found above.
The team also discovered a larval salamander in a spring near Monfalcone, Italy, where floods could not have washed the creature into above-ground springs. This suggested to the team that cave salamanders may be breeding in springs – although the team still found that it was more likely to occur underground due to the higher risk of above-ground pools.
Olms has long kept his exploration of the surface secret. There are likely to be more surprises to come. There is more to salamanders than meets the eye—even if they are blind.
more: Brain scans reveal oddities about cave salamanders that lost their eyes