“The current danger situation and the fact that the animal species is easily recognizable even to ordinary people has led to the selection of the fire salamander as the cave animal of the year 2023,” he said. That’s what SGH wrote in a statement Tuesday.
Since this millennium, the skin fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, probably brought from East Asia, has been spreading across Central Europe, decimating entire salamander populations.
The fire salamander represents a large number of animal species that depend on sheltered and frost-free shelters underground. Thirteen subspecies of the fire salamander are known to date, scientifically described as early as 1758. However, only the banded fire salamander and the spotted fire salamander occur in Switzerland, according to the SGH.
Reaching a length of 20 centimeters and weighing a maximum of 50 grams, fire salamanders are the largest of the native tailed amphibians. They are usually black and yellow in color and the markings are unique to each animal.
Animals live in caves, mine shafts and other underground cavities all year round. Fire salamanders benefit from generally high humidity in burrows that prevents them from drying out.
Arthropods, worms and land snails serve as food. Female fire salamanders give birth to up to 60 live cubs. Gill-bearing larvae are deposited in shallow water. There they feed mainly on may or stonefly larvae, freshwater shrimp and water lice.
(SDA)
Source : Blick
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