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Spotted Salamander — printable fact sheet
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Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma maculatum
The spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) of eastern North America is the only known vertebrate with a photosynthetic partner living inside its own cells. Its egg masses turn visibly green as they are colonised by the alga Oophila amblystomatis, and in 2011 researchers demons…
Did you know?
- Spotted Salamanders can live for up to 20 years in the wild, making them one of the longest-lived salamander species.
- It is the only vertebrate known to host a photosynthetic alga inside its own cells. The mass overland migration to breeding pools, known to naturalists as Big Night, can happen on a single rainy evening, and volunteers in the northeastern United States close roads to stop the salamanders being crushed. Males never touch the female; they leave sperm packets on the pool floor for her to collect. An adult may live over 20 years, most of it out of sight underground.
What I learned
Draw the spotted salamander
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