Fire Salamander
Salamandra salamandra · Amphibian
A black salamander with yellow spots or stripes, 15 to 25 cm long, living in shady broadleaf and mixed woods of central and southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East; it leaves its larvae in calm springs and small forest brooks. It hunts insects, slugs and worms at night, or by day when it rains, and hibernates underground in wells, burrows, old mine tunnels and caves. Glands behind the eyes and along the back make samandarin, a nerve poison that causes convulsions in vertebrates, and it can spray it; a dog or cat that bites one spits it out, but handling it is harmless to most people. It was long believed to be born of fire or to survive it, probably because salamanders crawled out of logs thrown on the fire; one lived 50 years in a museum terrarium.
- Danger
- Harmless
- How it is met
- Alone, by night
- Size
- Tiny
- In winter
- Sleeps through winter
Where it lives
Temperate Forest, Stream, Spring, Cave
Sources
- Rose Sydlowski, Salamandra salamandra (fire salamander). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, 2000.
- Fire salamander. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2026.
- Salamandra salamandra. Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre, 2026.
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