Amphibians
Alpine Salamander
Salamandra atra · also called alpine salamander, black salamander
The alpine salamander is a glossy black amphibian of the European high mountains, and it has done something almost no other salamander has: it has given up water completely. It never enters a pond or stream, not even to breed. Instead it carries its young inside its body and, after a pregnancy that can last three or four years, gives birth to a couple of fully formed, land-ready juveniles.
Overview
The alpine salamander lives in the Alps and the Dinaric mountains, from about 400 to 2,800 m, in wet forest, meadow, and rocky slopes. It is 9–15 cm long, uniformly jet black and glossy, with prominent glands behind the head. It hunts beetles, worms, slugs, and spiders at night and in damp weather.
A pregnancy of years
The female keeps her developing young inside her oviducts. Gestation lasts about two years low down and three to four years high in the mountains — among the longest of any land vertebrate. Only one or two embryos develop per pregnancy; they eat the other eggs, then feed on secretions and cells lining the oviduct, and are finally born as fully formed juveniles.
Poisonous skin
Its glands produce toxins like those of the fire salamander — distasteful and irritating to foxes, birds, and snakes, though not dangerous to a person who washes their hands.
Status
The alpine salamander is Least Concern, widespread and locally common, though some isolated subspecies have tiny ranges, and the species is sensitive to warming and to chytridiomycosis. It is most often seen out on paths and meadows during or just after rain.
Alpine Salamander: common questions
Why does the alpine salamander give birth instead of laying eggs in water?
It is an adaptation to living high in cold mountains, where suitable breeding pools are scarce, often frozen for much of the year, and where a slow-developing aquatic larva would struggle to complete its growth before winter. By keeping the young inside her body, the female provides them with a stable, protected environment and a food supply regardless of what the weather is doing outside, and they emerge as land-ready juveniles that can start feeding straight away. The cost is that she can only carry one or two at a time and the pregnancy takes years, so each female produces very few offspring over her life.
How long is the alpine salamander's pregnancy, really?
It depends on altitude and climate. In warmer, lower populations gestation lasts around two years. In the coldest, highest populations it can extend to three or even four years, because the embryos develop only during the short active season and pause through the long winter dormancy. Either way it is one of the longest gestation periods known in any land vertebrate, comparable to or exceeding that of elephants, and far longer than that of any other salamander. The female is effectively pregnant for a large fraction of her adult life.
Is the alpine salamander dangerous to touch?
It is not dangerous to a person who handles it gently and washes their hands afterward, but it is chemically defended and should be treated with respect. Its skin glands secrete toxins related to those of the fire salamander, which taste foul and can irritate the eyes, mouth, and broken skin. These are aimed at deterring foxes, birds, and snakes, not people, and the salamander cannot spray them any distance. As with all amphibians, handling should be brief and with clean, wet hands, both for your safety and to avoid harming the animal's delicate skin.
Where and when can you see one?
Alpine salamanders are creatures of wet weather. On a dry, sunny day they stay hidden under rocks, in crevices, and in mammal burrows, and they can be almost impossible to find. During or just after rain, in fog, or in the cool of the evening, especially in spring and early summer, they come out onto paths, meadows, and scree slopes in numbers, and hikers in the Alps often encounter them then. They move slowly and make no attempt to flee quickly, relying on their toxic skin rather than speed.