A Salamander Mystery Word Maze With a Mission In each set of letters, cross out the letters that appear more than once. Write the Start Help the female Mole Salamander get to remaining letter in the line below each set to discover the mystery word. the temporary wetlands and lay her eggs. J P E M L K T R O M N U B F V R J S I T M R O L Y Y J C Y V How do you P R E T K I I L T U J N F C B know Axolotls

are curious? Becuase they axolotl questions! axolotl they Becuase

EndEnd Salamander Word Search Connect the Dots Find the words in the left column in the word puzzle. Words can be R B M diagonal and backwards, too. I G S T After you connect the dots on the image below, P S L L R O N E I S grab your crayons and markers and color it in! AMPHIBIAN M C A F O A Q T G AXOLOTL Z E O T O X S L D S N S I K W BIODIVERSITY T N G A D M S E S G G EFT E Z B A L D R Y W I J GILLS E N Q U O N M I S M M E D V A HEADWATER H D P E A A E L HELLBENDER B K Q W R A E E R M P A LUNGLESS C N M G H A A H M J E R NEWT S D A G S D E N Q PONDS T U T A H S C Y Z T E F U H I Y REGENERATION Q J F I T K P F F F SALAMANDER R X L K T X M H F O N STREAMS B L L E E D N E Y R TAIL R E F R N V N R I V K C O O J B TONGUE L S U B B C V C F I H P S S T G V I S V M B B O A B S U R Y V O T L U A X O L T Y X P SOUTHEASTERN SALAMANDERS

Salamander Capital of the World

More than 45 species (types) of salamanders live in Tennessee and North Carolina. Th at’s more than can be found in most countries, and there are plenty of others waiting to be discovered!

Many of these salamanders are known as “lungless salamanders.” Th ey breathe through their moist, thin skin. Most salamanders live at least part of their life on land, but lungless salamanders rarely — if ever — leave the water.

Th ere are so many salamanders in Tennessee and North Carolina that, as a group, they even weigh more than all of the fi sh, birds and mammals that share their cool mountain streams and forests! Because of this, salamanders The Tennessee Aquarium in Action are an extremely important part of the food web. Like all animals, salamanders need a place to live, also called a habitat. One of the worst dangers salamanders face is the loss of their homes because of cutting down forests or changes to their streams. Scientists also worry that climate change will aff ect salamanders. In the future, salamanders may struggle with warmer temperatures and longer and more severe droughts (times when rain doesn’t fall).

To study how climate change could impact salamanders, the Tennessee Aquarium and its partners have observed salamanders in the wild and using artifi cial streams at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute. Th ey want to understand how climate warming could aff ect where salamanders live and how they interact with each other in their streams. Th is valuable information will help humans to protect salamanders in the future! TRUE or FALSE Is it a Salamander or a Lizard?

1. Some salamanders breathe through their skin. Lizards usually have external 2. The largest salamander is almost 4 feet long! ear-openings and clawed toes. 3. Newts are not Salamanders. Salamanders don’t have scales.

1. True 2. True. 3. False, all newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts. are salamanders all not but salamanders, are newts all False, 3. True. 2. True 1. Salamanders have four toes on their front legs. Marbled Salamander Ambystoma opacum