Salamander Survey

Yesterday, I went on a Salamander survey with my 4h naturalist club. It was at Riverbend park, which is near great falls park. We caught and recorded several salamanders, and it was a lot of fun.

We met at the visitor center, and talked about salmanders with our guide. Then we started hiking the trail, all the while turning logs to look for the elusive amphibians. A Red-backed Salamander, and a Lead-backed Salamander (a morph of the red-backed) were found. It was noticed that the Lead-backed was a lot more skiddish than the Red-backed one. Our guide said that Red is an alarm to predators, and that when the Lead-backed population lost the protective red, they evolved to be more quick and deft.

Red-backed Salamander

Lead-backed Salamander, a morph of the Red-backed Salamander

After a few more minutes of hiking, we came across the survey area. It was an area with small boards every few square feet. Salamanders like to hide under the boards.

So our guide assigned us roles: I got to record what was found under the boards, other people got to flip the wooden boards, pick up the salmanders, and more. Every so often we switched jobs.

During the survey, we found several Salamanders. Including a Red-backed Salamander and a morph of it, the Yellow-backed Salamander!

Yellow-backed Salamander

After that, we returned to the visitors center and left.

Salamanders, as our guide said, can indicate when something is wrong, because they do not easily adapt. As global warming gets worse, salamanders are shrinking. Many species of amphibians are now becoming endangered of extinct. So if the salamders are doing poorly, the world is too.