A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Salamander Behavior and Natural History

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Defense	Feeding Behavior	Movement
Reproduction	Predators	Miscellaneous Observations

These are pictures and videos that illustrate some of the interesting behaviors of some of the salamanders shown on this web site. (Not all interesting salamander behaviors are shown here, only those from this site. More will be added here as they are added to the site.) Follow the links on the name of each species to find more pictures and information about it.
Miscellaneous Salamander Observations

During the dry season, Arboreal Salamanders seek out cool moist areas underground or in trees to rest until the rainy season. Eric Boyer discovered this large group of estivating adult and juvenile Arboreal salamanders underneath some wood while remodeling a backyard in Santa Barbara County in June. © Eric Boyer	Wandering Salamanders inhabit fallen trees on the ground as well as the canopies of massive redwood trees several hundred feet tall. The salamanders in the canopies probably spend their whole life in the tree.	A gilled metamorph Rough-skinned Newt photographed underwater. This newt was found on land at the edge of the water, but still has its gills, so it is in the process of matamorphosing from an aquatic larva to a land-dwelling newt.

California Slender Salamander in a coiled defensive pose. I have seen millipedes coiled in a similar manner where these salamanders are found. It's possible that the coiling behavior is meant to make the salamander look like the foul tasting millipede to avoid predation.	This video shows a few short looks at several California Slender Salamanders sitting still, coiled up, and quickly wriggling away.	A large mass of Rough-skinned Newts underwater in early September in southern Oregon © David Mikkelsen There are aproximately 2000 newts in this mass, according to David Mikkelsen. He has observed that after the spring breeding season the newts congregate in underwater leaf litter in the shaded still water at the edge of this river and stay there until the beginning of the fall rains when they once again return to the surrounding forest.

Yellow-eyed Ensatina	Coast Range Newt	The red-cheeked Imitator Salamander (bottom) is thought to imitate the red warning cheek color of the Red-cheeked Salamander (top) which lives in the same habitat. Presumably, the Red-cheeked salamander is more toxic than the Imitator.
One theory suggests that the reason the Yellow-eyed Ensatina has large yellow patches on its eyes, while other subspecies of Ensatina do not, is that the non-toxic Ensatina is mimicking the dangerously toxic Coast Range Newt, which lives in the same habitat, in order to avoid attacks from predators that have evolved to avoid newts. The Ensatina's body color is also similar to that of the newt.
The three Coastal Giant Salamanders below were born in streams where they breathe with gills until they transform. When they transform, they lose their gills and develop lungs and move onto land to live. They will return to the water occasionally to feed and to breed.

In this short video, you can see the gills working on this tiny Coastal Giant Salamander larva shown underwater in a small aquarium.	A Coastal Giant Salamander where it was found under a rock at the quiet edge of a stream.	A very large captive neotenic Coastal Giant Salamander, shown underwater. Sometimes, salamanders which begin in an aquatic phase, do not transform into the land phase. They become neotenic (or paedomorphic) adults which retain the juvenile characteristics of gills and finned tail.

An adult male White-spotted Slimy Slamander showing a mental gland under its chin. Some male salamanders rub their mental gland on a female during courtship to stimulate her with his pheramones.	Western Red-backed Salamander showing its nasolabial grooves, which are grooves that run from the nose to the mouth. These salamanders communicate through chemical stimuli. These grooves are thought to aid the salamander in sensing these chemicals, which is probably very important in reproductive behavior.	Hydromantes salamanders, which include the Mount Lyell Salamander seen above crawling at night on the face of a large rock, have the longest tongues of any salamanders. They can extend the tongue more than half the length of their entire bodies, including the tail. You can see a slow-motion movie of one shooting out its tongue to feed here.

This adult Tellico Salamander from Tennessee has lost its left rear foot and a new one is growing back. You can see the new toes developing on the right. * Salamanders can re-generate many of their body parts, sometimes in less than a month, including their limbs, tail, upper and lower jaws, eye lenses and retina, their intestines, and even their brains. Neuroscientists have removed the brain of a salamander, ground it up, then re-inserted it into the salamander's skull and the brain connections grew back. The salamander was able to function again soon. * Karen Shanor & Jagneet Kanwal. Bats Sing, Mice Giggle - The Surprising Science of Animals' Inner Lives.
Movement

Rough-skinned Newts move around the rocky shallow margins of a river, occasionally coming up for air.	In this short video, a Barred Tiger Salamander crosses a wet road on a rainy summer night in Arizona.	This video shows an Arizona Tiger Salamander crossing a road on a rainy summer night in the mountains of Arizona.

Some salamanders lay eggs on land and the young are born as miniature versions of the adults. Others, like the Southern Long-toed Salamander, lay eggs in water. The young hatch as tiny swimming fish-like creatures, with gills and a large fin-like tail. As you can see in this short video, they eventually develop legs. One day, these aquatic larvae will lose their gills and walk onto the land, using lungs to breathe instead of gills.	Thios video shows a Western Long-toed Salamander crawling into the breeding pond on a cold February night in King County, Washington,	Western Long-toed Salamanders swim around underwater at night in a breeding pond during the breeding season in early February.

In this video, a Sierra Newt crosses a road in the afternoon in Fresno County.	This video shows some Sierra Newts in motion.	In this video, male Sierra Newts move around a shallow breeding pool in the Sierra Nevada foothills in early March.

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