OLM SALAMANDER

Called the "living fossil" because it is one of the oldest species in the world and because it still has most of its original characteristics, Olm salamander is definitely the oddest of underground creatures. It is an amphibian that lives off micro-organisms and other cave-dwelling species and is the number one underground predator thanks to its size (up to 35 cm long).

 

Like all other cave-dwellers it has no eyes and is totally colourless.

These amphibians reach adulthood at the age of 15, which is the age at which they can start to reproduce. Each year the female lays between 30 and 60 eggs that the male then sprays with his milt. The mother sticks the eggs one by one to the underside of a rock and supervises them carefully for 120 days until they hatch. They have a lifespan of at least 80 years.

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Olm Salamander |