|
The flatwoods salamander used to crawl over 100 million acres of longleaf pine habitat in the Southeastern United States. Now there is less than 3 million acres of habitat left - most of it in 11 wetland-rich Florida counties. There were 110 flatwoods salamander communities in four states prior to 1990. Now there are only 47, 34 of them in Florida.
The problem is that they live in a unique habitat - flat, low-lying longleaf or slash pine forests that lie between drier land upslope and wetlands. Autumn showers prompt migration to breeding sites of small marshy wetlands. Females lay up to 160 eggs, singly, in small groups, under debris or on bare soil at the bottom of basins. Larvae hatch 3-5 weeks later.
That habitat is being destroyed as cities take over forests, companies harvest timber and land is cleared for crops. Forest management is crucial to the salamander's survival.
The best time to see them is at night, when they come out for food. They are solitary creatures who live alone and spend most of the daylight hours in underground burrows or in cool, damp crevices under rocks or logs. They have fragile bodies and should be handled as little as possible. |
