Katie Says: Meet my favorite denizen of the detritus!

One of my favorite activities here at Briar Bush Nature Center has got to be log rolling. No, that doesn’t mean that you’ll find me standing on a spinning log in the middle of our pond; I mean rolling over logs on the ground to look for what hides beneath! Rotting logs act as a mulch motel for all kinds of creatures including centipedes, pill bugs (better known as roly polys), earthworms, termites and my personal favorite, the redback salamander.

The redback salamander is the most common salamander here in the northeast and can be found in just about any healthy forested area. Scientists consider the redback salamander an indicator species, meaning that high numbers of the salamanders indicate a healthy forest ecosystem. In a forest that has been clearcut of all of its trees, the salamanders disappear and won’t return for at least another 50 years. Chances are you’ve seen the redback salamander before: the two to four inch peppered amphibian with a reddish-orange stripe down his back. Others, known as “leadbacks,” lack the colorful stripe, betraying their redback name. Like all amphibians, their skin needs to stay wet in order to breathe, which gives the salamander a shiny or “slimy” look, but make no mistake; these guys are soaked in cuteness, not slime! What I find especially amazing about the redback and other woodland salamanders is that unlike other amphibians, they do not depend on water for any part of their life cycle. Instead, eggs are laid in tiny, grape-like clusters beneath logs or in other damp places. There, the young develop completely within the egg and emerge as miniature versions of the adults instead of the familiar tadpole that we associate with frogs and toads. In the winter, salamanders both young and old hibernate through the winter by digging down as much as 15 inches into the soil and leaf litter. Once they emerge in the spring, these tiny hunters will spend their nights, especially rainy ones, prowling the forest floor in search of tasty insects.

The next time you’re out at Briar Bush, try out some log rolling of your very own! Just remember to put the logs back where you found them…that’s a salamander’s home under there! Have a question or a story of your own to share? Leave a comment below! Blogger accounts are not required to leave a comment.