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The association of the salamander with fire appeared first in Antiquity with Aristotle (History of Animals 5, 17) and with Pliny the Elder writing in his Natural History (10, 86) that "A salamander is so cold that it puts out fire on contact. It vomits from its mouth a milky liquid; if this liquid touches any part of the human body, it causes ...
Crepuscular, a classification of animals that are active primarily during twilight, making them similar to nocturnal animals. Diurnality, plant or animal behavior characterized by activity during the day and sleeping at night. Cathemeral, a classification of organisms with sporadic and random intervals of activity during the day or night.
[15] [16] The common mudpuppy never leaves its aquatic environment and therefore does not undergo morphogenesis; however, many salamanders do and develop differentiated teeth. [17] Aquatic salamander teeth are used to hinder escape of the prey from the salamander; they do not have a crushing function. [17] This aids the salamander when feeding.
Sirenidae, the sirens, are a family of neotenic aquatic salamanders. Family members have very small fore limbs and lack hind limbs altogether. [1] In one species, the skeleton in their fore limbs is made of only cartilage. In contrast to most other salamanders, they have external gills bunched together on the neck in both larval and adult
Small-mouth salamanders are nocturnal, often subterranean, preferring moist habitats near permanent bodies of water. Breeding occurs in the spring, with groups of salamanders congregating near the water. Females can lay up to 700 eggs, which they attach in small clumps of up to 30 eggs at a time, to rocks or vegetation under the water.
Greater siren out of water. Greater sirens are carnivorous and prey upon invertebrates (such as insects, crustaceans, gastropods, bivalves, spiders, molluscs, and crayfish) [11] and aquatic vertebrates (such as small fish) [11] with a possible preference for molluscs (such as snails and freshwater clams), [8] [12] although they have been observed to eat vegetation such as algae.
Cryptobranchids are large and predominantly nocturnal salamanders that can reach a length of 1.8 m (5.9 ft), though most are considerably smaller today. [1] Despite being aquatic, they are poor swimmers and mostly just walk on the bottom.
Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described—of which around 1 million are insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million in total. Animals range in size from 8.5 millionths of a metre to 33.6 metres (110 ft) long and have complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs .