What’s smooth, short, and blotchy all over? The western tiger salamander of course.
Salamanders are a small animal that remind you of the more familiar lizards. However, lizards are reptiles, with rough, scaly skin. Salamanders are amphibians, with moist, porous skin. They have short legs, a blunt snout and a relatively long tail.
Nebraska is home to two kinds of salamanders. The smallmouth salamander is found only in a few counties in Southeast Nebraska. The western tiger salamander, however, can be found statewide. Even so, these salamanders can be difficult to see due to their nocturnal and rather sedentary nature.
If people wanted to find a western tiger salamander on the move, they may resort to slowly driving the back roads at night after a spring rain. These conditions are ideal for salamanders crossing roads to make their yearly trek to spawn in shallow, fishless pools. Their gelatinous eggs will hatch into nymphs, the tadpole-like stage of the salamander’s life cycle. As the nymphs grow, they will lose their external gills and sprout legs before crawling from the water as adults.
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For the past several years, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission have been interested in learning more about where western tiger salamanders can be found in Nebraska. Their numbers are believed to be declining. But more information is needed to determine exactly where they are and, just as importantly, where they are not.
This is why we are seeking volunteers to help us look for these cute creatures through a community science project called the Nebraska Amphibian Monitoring Project. This project, formally known as Nebraska Salamander Search, will offer an online workshop from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Unlike in previous years, the project's methods will focus on finding salamanders in their aquatic nymph form, rather than as adults.
Anyone interested in learning more about this project, including past volunteers, are invited to attend the workshop. It will review the information volunteers will need to participate in this project. A partnership between the UNL School of Natural Resources and Game and Parks is hosting the workshop.
For more information or to register, contact me at alie.mayes@nebraska.gov.
