Amazing  Salamanders
Written by Kerrie Shanahan
Amazing Salamanders Text type: Report Level: N (30) Word count: 1,037 Content vocabulary amphibians carnivores gills glands larvae lungs metamorphosis mucus nervous system nocturnal oxygen predator prey poison salamanders species Irregularly spelled words behaviors Earth Europe half larvae palm technique tongues unique
Amazing Salamanders
Key concepts • Salamanders are amphibians that have specific characteristics. • Salamanders need specific conditions to survive. Reading strategy Using diagrams to confirm information in the text Paired book Salamander Surprise!
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Written by Kerrie Shanahan
Contents Introduction 4 Chapter 1: What are salamanders? 6 Chapter 2: Where do salamanders live? 10 Chapter 3: How do salamanders hunt? 12 Chapter 4: How do salamanders stay safe? 16 Using poison
17
Hiding 18 Tricky tails
19
Chapter 5: How do salamanders grow and change?
20
Laying eggs
20
Hatching 21 Growing and changing
22
Breeding 24
Conclusion 26 Glossary 27 A note from the author 28
Introduction
an ancient salamander skeleton
Salamanders are amazing animals. They look like lizards but they are not lizards. They have lived on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs and they still look the
Fact file
same as they did back then.
Scientists have found salamander fossils that are 160 million years old.
marbled salamander There are many different types of salamanders. Some are smaller than your little finger and some are bigger than a person. Some live in caves, some in trees, and some in water. Salamanders have developed clever ways to survive. These include how they find food, how they keep safe, and how they breed. 4
5
Chapter 1
What are salamanders?
Salamanders are amphibians, like frogs and toads. Most begin their life in water, then grow into air-breathing adults. Many
salamanders go through incredible
tiger salamander
changes as they grow and become adults.
Fact file There are about 500 species of salamander.
red salamander climbing salamander
Salamanders have different colors and patterns on their skin. Some are brightly colored with spots, stripes, or other patterns. Salamanders that live underground are often plain white or pink. 6
7
Some salamanders, such as the blind salamander, have both lungs and gills. Most of the time they use their gills to breathe. When the amount of oxygen in the water is low, they use their lungs to breathe The largest salamander is the Chinese giant salamander. It can grow to almost six feet long.
oxygen from the air. Some salamanders do not
Salamanders vary a lot in size. Most
have lungs or gills. They
salamanders are about four to eight inches
breathe in oxygen through
long. The smallest salamander is less than
their skin.
blind salamander
one inch long, including the tail. lungless salamander All salamanders breathe air to get oxygen into their bodies. There are four different ways that salamanders do this. Most salamanders use lungs to breathe. Others that live in water have gills that they use to take in oxygen from the water. 8
9
Chapter 2
Salamanders have soft, moist skin.
Where do salamanders live?
Salamanders are found in the USA, South America, Europe, and Asia. Most salamanders begin their lives in water and then live their adult lives on land. They live in and near marshes, swamps, lakes, and creeks. They can be found under stones, on forest floors under damp leaves, or in burrows.
Fact file Salamanders need to live in a damp environment so their
As salamanders grow, they shed a layer of skin. Then they eat this skin.
smooth, soft skin does not dry out. Salamanders help fire salamander
to keep their skin moist by making slimy mucus ooze out of glands in their skin.
10
11 11
Chapter 3
How do salamanders hunt?
Salamanders flick their tongues in and out rapidly to catch their prey. The prey gets stuck on the end of the salamander’s
Salamanders are carnivores – they eat other
sticky tongue. The salamander brings its
animals. They search for their food during
tongue back in and eats the prey.
the night and rest during the day. Animals that are active at night and rest during the
The giant palm salamander can flick out
day are called nocturnal animals.
its tongue fifty times faster than the blink of an eye. Its tongue can extend nearly half the length of its body.
Fact file Most salamanders eat insects, spiders, worms, and snails. Some eat frogs, fish, and even other salamanders.
12
13 13
The lungless salamander has an amazing way to hunt for food. It also uses its tongue to catch its prey, but it has developed a way to make this hunting technique even better. This salamander’s tongue is attached to a long bone. When the tongue shoots out of
lungless salamander
the salamander’s mouth, the bone comes out behind it, extending the length of the tongue. This means the tongue can reach even further
Fact file
to grab prey.
When the salamander’s tongue is fully extended, tongue bone
tongue
it is almost as long
One type of lungless salamander is two and a half inches long. Its tongue is two inches long.
as the salamander’s body. When this salamander is not tip of tongue bone
using its tongue to catch prey, the tongue is stored where the salamander’s lungs would have been.
14
15 15
Chapter 4
How do salamanders stay safe?
Salamanders have some amazing ways to defend and protect themselves from predators that hunt and eat them.
Using poison Many salamanders make poison to protect themselves from predators. Some salamanders have poison that comes out of glands in their skin. The poison has a bad taste so the predators that catch these salamanders will spit them out, keeping the salamanders safe. The fire salamander sprays poison from glands along the middle of its back. The poison burns the eyes and mouth of a predator and can affect the animal’s nervous system. Its muscles stop working and it cannot breathe.
Storks, snakes, owls, and turtles are some of the animals that hunt and eat salamanders.
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Fact file Brightly colored salamanders are often poisonous. The bright colors warn predators to stay away from them. 17 17
Tricky tails A salamander can make its own tail fall off. It does this if its tail gets stuck or if it gets caught by a predator. After a salamander drops its tail, the tail keeps on wriggling. The predator is distracted and the salamander can escape. After losing its tail, the salamander can grow a new tail. This spotted salamander is hard to see.
Hiding
Fact file Salamanders can also regrow other body parts such as their legs and even their eyes.
Salamanders hide during the day. They hide from predators in underground holes or under leaves and bark. Many salamanders can be hard to see because they are similar in color to their environment. This helps to keep them safe from predators. 18
This salamander is growing a new tail. 19 19
Chapter 5
How do salamanders grow and change?
Hatching After about four weeks the salamanders hatch out of the eggs. These salamanders are called salamander larvae. They look a bit like tadpoles. They have gills to breathe
Laying eggs All salamanders lay their eggs in water. The
underwater, a long tail fin, and no legs.
eggs are covered in jelly and are attached
As soon as salamander larvae hatch, they
to sticks or water plants.
are able to look after themselves. They use
This helps to keep
their strong tail fins to swim through the
the eggs safe until they hatch.
Fact file
Usually the mother looks after the eggs, but in some live on land lay species, such as the Japanese giant salamander, the father their eggs in water looks after the eggs. and leave their eggs Salamanders that
water hunting for food.
salamander larvae
to hatch by themselves. Salamanders that live in water look after their eggs until they hatch. 20
salamander eggs 21
Growing and changing Salamander larvae look very different from adult salamanders. To become adults, their bodies must go through incredible changes. This change is called metamorphosis.
Fact file One type of salamander called the axolotl does not change Metamorphosis as it grows into an adult. begins when the It stays in the larval state salamander larvae its whole life. It uses its gills to breathe are about three in water. weeks old. First they grow front legs. Then they grow back legs. Then their tail fins become thickened tails. Most salamanders develop lungs instead of gills and then move out of the water onto land. Their skin changes into its adult coloring. 22
23 23
Breeding
But other salamanders must travel a long
Each year most adult salamanders return to
way to do this. This type of salamander
the pond or swamp where they hatched to
uses its strong sense of smell to find the
mate and lay their eggs.
exact place where it began its life. Once it
For some salamanders
gets to the spot where it hatched, it finds a
Fact file The male salamander waves its tail in a kind of dance to show the female it is ready to mate.
this is easy because
mate and lays its eggs.
they live near where they hatched.
Salamander life cycle adult salamander
laying eggs
This newt is laying its eggs on a tree root 24 underwater. A newt is a type of salamander.
larvae
eggs 25 25
Conclusion
Glossary
Salamanders are amazing animals. They
amphibian A cold-blooded animal with
have lived on Earth for millions of years and
smooth skin and a backbone that often
are found in many different countries. There
lays its eggs in water.
are hundreds of different types of salamanders,
gills Organs that let animals breathe
all with their own unique look and behaviors.
underwater
Salamanders have developed characteristics
gland An organ or cells that produce liquids
that give them the best chance of survival.
in the body
They have amazing ways of finding food and
larva A newly hatched animal whose body
keeping safe from predators.
will go through many changes as it grows
metamorphosis The changing of an animal’s body as it grows into an adult
nervous system The system of nerves in the body that carries messages to and from the brain
species A group of living things that are the same in many ways 26
fire salamander
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A note from the author
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To write this book about salamanders, I needed to find out information about them. As I researched salamanders, I kept discovering more and more incredible facts about these animals. I listened to David Attenborough, a well-known naturalist, talk about salamanders on a radio science show. I also looked at many, many websites on the Internet about salamanders.
28
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