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Salamandra salamandra
About 20cm in length, conspicuously coloured and easy to recognize amphibian. Coloured like this, with yellow spots roughly organised in two parallel lines, give away the subspecies - S. s. terrestris, the most common one in France. In spite of these striking colours, they camouflage with ease (pic N°3) - I probably passed next to this female few times before spotting her...
Found on the forest floor, hiding among fallen leaves, branches and dead logs, in a protected lowland oak forest, in Geneva lake valley. This particular forest is protected as recognized and important habitat of Fire Salamanders, containing an important population of them - few years ago, about 600 of salamanders were counted there during the transect walk.
This beauty is/was the star of the season for me, as she was my first spotting during the protective action I'm currently participating in. This month is the breeding season for these salamanders, and the French conservation organisation LPO is leading protection activities in this spot. At first, long line of nets were installed between their habitats and nearby road. Then, whenever the weather is favourable for their mating games (humid weather, with moderate rain and temperature between 6 and 10-12°C) volunteers gather around the line of nets, capture adults hanging close by and bring them back inside the forest. Of course, when captured, salamanders are measured and photographed. The idea behind this action is to prevent them being squashed under cars - normally discreet and shy, during the mating season, they look for clearings and meadows for their games, and as roads offer sort of clear spot, they often end up there... One last word on this spotting - when I spotted her, the day (or actually the whole week...) was probably too dry for their mating games, and we did not find any salamander in these protective nets... by the end of the that day's "shift", I took a walk through that forest, and hey - I really enjoyed that brief photo session with this beauty!
1 Comment
Wonderful spotting, Zlatan. Fantastic notes too!