Bulletin 941 Getting to Know Salamanders in Ohio Life History and Management Getting to Know Salamanders in Ohio: Life History and Management Authors Marne A. Titchenell The School of Environment and Natural Resources The Ohio State University Sarah Lehnen The School of Environment and Natural Resources The Ohio State University Acknowledgements The authors would especially like to thank the editors Brian MacGowan, Purdue University, and Rebecca Christoffel, D.J. Case and Associates, Inc., for their comments, recommendations, and time. Their kindly provided reviews greatly improved the publication. Special thanks also to Andrew Hoffman, Brian MacGowan, Thomas P. LeBlanc, and J.P. Humphries for providing excellent images of Ohio’s native salamander species. This is a for sale publication. Additional copies can be ordered from your local OSU Extension office. For a list of Ohio State University Extension offices, log on to: http://extension.osu.edu/counties.php. Copies are also available through Media Distribution, Ohio State University Extension, 216 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1044. Phone: 614-292-1607. Bulletin 941 Copyright © 2009, The Ohio State University Ohio State University Extension embraces human diversity and is committed to ensuring that all research and related educational programs are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, or veteran status. This statement is in accordance with United States Civil Rights Laws and the USDA. Keith L. Smith, Ph.D., Associate Vice President for Agricultural Administration and Director, Ohio State University Extension TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868 7/09 — 1200— XXXXXX 2 Contents The Myth of the Fire Lizard . .5 Salamander Ecology. 6 Just What Are Salamanders? . 6 What Do Salamanders Look Like?. .6 What’s on a Salamander’s Lunch Menu?. 7 Salamander Behavior. 7 A Salamander Is Born. 8 Ohio’s Salamanders . .10 Do I Have Salamanders on My Land?. .10 Salamander Habitats. 10 How Can I See a Salamander? . 15 Management Options for Salamander Habitats. 16 Flowing Water Habitats. .16 Standing Water Habitats. .16 Terrestrial Habitats. .17 Conservation of Salamanders. 18 State Endangered Salamanders. .18 Now You Have Gotten to Know Salamanders. .20 Ohio Salamander Sizes, Habitats, and Distribution . 21 Selected Bibliography. 22 3 4 Figure 1. Legends and myths from long ago depicted salamanders sustaining life from fire. The Myth of the Fire Lizard Most people don’t know it, but North America has quently, in some languages, the word salamander more species of salamanders than anywhere else in means “fire lizard.” Leonardo da Vinci (1880/1970) the world! Ohio alone has 24 different species of wrote that the salamander “has no digestive organs, salamanders, some of which can be very abundant. and gets no food but from the fire, in which it So why don’t we see more salamanders crawling constantly renews its scaly skin.” Other early myths around? Salamanders are voiceless, very secretive, about salamanders claimed their saliva destroyed and take to hiding under rocks and logs during the human hair. Fortunately for us, these beliefs are not daytime, so we are not likely to hear or stumble true. While salamanders probably did scurry out of across them. damp logs back in the day, they probably did so to escape the fire, not to be born from it. Further, sala- In fact, due to their elusive nature, many myths and manders do not lack digestive organs, do not have legends have arisen about salamanders. During the scales, and do not have saliva that ruins human Middle Ages, people believed salamanders were hair. They are not even lizards, which are reptiles. born from fire because they observed salamanders Salamanders are amphibians, a group of animals scurrying out of damp logs burned for fuel. Conse- that is often misunderstood and overlooked. 5 Salamander Ecology Just What Are Salamanders? Salamanders are amphibians, a group of animals claws, scales, and dry skin that are characteristic characterized by smooth, naked skin with no scales, of reptiles. Salamanders have very moist skin with feathers, or hair. There are three major groups of mucous-secreting glands that prevent them from amphibians, consisting of over 5,700 species total. drying out. This is important because some species The least familiar of these are the caecilians, a are capable of breathing through their skin and tropical group of long, worm-shaped animals with need a constant layer of moisture to do so. Sala- no limbs. Much more familiar to people are the manders are unique from frogs and toads because anurans, or frogs and toads. These animals are often they retain their tail through adulthood. Most seen near ponds and marshes and may be heard species also have two forelimbs and two hindlimbs during the spring when male frogs make their pres- that aid in swimming and walking on land. ence known with mating calls. Salamanders belong to the final group of amphibians, the caudates. When some people think of amphibians, it brings Salamanders do not make mating calls or any other to mind images of slimy, warty animals that are vocalizations. They are often overlooked because of definitely not the most attractive creatures on earth. their silent and secretive nature. While there are a few unfortunate species out there that are described well by these words, salamanders What Do Salamanders Look Like? are a group of animals that, while slimy, are by no At first glance, salamanders look a lot like lizards, means ugly. Many of Ohio’s salamanders are small, which are reptiles rather than amphibians. A delicate, and brightly colored. They may be green, salamander is long, slender, and has a tail that is brown, red, orange, or yellow, and they often have often just as long as its body. On closer inspection, spots, stripes, or dots of varying colors such as blue, however, you will notice that salamanders lack the white, or black. Figure 2. Salamanders are the most quiet and secretive of all Ohio’s amphibians. Photo courtesy of Brian MacGowan. 6 Figure 3. The cave salamander is one of Ohio’s brightly colored salamanders. Photo courtesy of Andrew Hoffman. Diversity is apparent not only in the color of these Salamander Behavior creatures; salamanders vary greatly in size as well. The largest Ohio species, an aquatic salamander Adult salamanders don’t eat very often; most of called the hellbender, measures up to 24 inches in their time during the day is spent resting under length, whereas the smallest Ohio species, the four- rocks, in logs, underground, or underwater. At toed salamander, measures a mere 3 inches. With night, they search for prey under these same rocks, the exception of the hellbender, Ohio salamanders logs, and aquatic vegetation. During dry weather, range in size from 2.5–8 inches, depending on the salamanders remain under cover at night to prevent species. In their juvenile stage, however, many sala- their skin from losing moisture—a potential cause mander species are small enough to easily perch on of death. Fortunately, salamanders can survive the tip of your pinky finger! extended periods without food, remaining safe and sheltered during dry conditions. What’s on a Salamander’s One advantage to remaining under cover is that Lunch Menu? it decreases the chance of being found by preda- Spiders, worms, grubs, and insects are on the tors. If a salamander is detected, it may employ preferred breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus of several defensive strategies depending on the salamanders. Salamanders are nocturnal preda- species. The juvenile red-spotted newt is protected tors, meaning they wait until the sun has set before by harmful compounds secreted from its skin. they head out to find some grub. Aquatic salaman- This substance will deter most predators and in ders and larvae will capture prey by opening their humans, may cause slight skin irritation. The red- mouth suddenly and with enough force to ‘suck’ spotted newt also engages in a defensive reflex the prey in. Terrestrial (land-dwelling) species will called unken posture in which it bends its head and capture prey with a quick snap of the jaws and a tail upward and curls its tail. In this position, the sticky tongue. The food is not chewed, but is often brightly colored underside of the newt is exposed shredded by the teeth from sudden, jerking move- as a warning. Other species may show defensive ments of the head before swallowing. behaviors such as lashing the tail, or casting-off the 7 tail and regenerating it later, which is a common are also at risk of desiccation if they get stranded in strategy of the four-toed salamander. The tail will a dry habitat. hold the attention of the predator by continuing to wriggle after it is detached, allowing the salamander Courtship to escape. Several aquatic-breeding salamanders, such as the spotted salamander, participate in a nuptial Perhaps due to these survival strategies, as well dance called Liebespiel. In these “love games,” up as their secretive nature, salamanders can be very to hundreds of salamanders gather in the breeding long-lived. Many salamanders live more than ten waters where they swim, dive, and nudge one years, and many require at least three to four years another with their noses. In species that breed on before they are old enough to breed. There are some land, such as the redback salamander, the male and species, such as the aquatic hellbender, that can live female engage in what is known as a tail-straddling as long as 30 years! walk. For other species, courtship means fanning their tails, walking together in a pinwheel motion, A Salamander Is Born or nudging each other’s tails.