What do cave salamanders eat

Occasionally in forests, springs, or streams. Diet: Variety of invertebrates including flies, crickets, beetles, moths, mites, and other insects.

Breeding information: Very little known. Breeding occurs in summer with egg-laying transpiring in fall and winter. Female lays 50 to 90 eggs under rocks or on stream bottom of caves; occasionally outside of caves. The larval stage lasts months. Status in Tennessee: Uncertain due to difficulty in obtaining population data. Once they lose their vision, their sense of smell becomes much keener and helps them locate meals. Their skin also has lateral lines -- organs that pick up movement, pressure and vibrations in the water, signaling the location of prey.

Bat droppings, called guano, attract beetles, flies, millipedes, snails and other invertebrates, which cave salamanders eat. Both adult and larval salamanders also dine on the guano, which serves as a rich source of nutrients. Meanwhile, many caves in the Ozarks have been closed to humans or sealed altogether because of "white nose syndrome," a highly contagious and usually fatal disease that threatens bats in the Ozarks and elsewhere.

Before you plan a trip to the Ozarks, check the U. Forest Service website for information about cave closures. Your best chance to see a blind cave salamander is during the spring or summer, when they conduct their mating rituals and stock up on food. By using the site, you agree to the uses of cookies and other technology as outlined in our Policy, and to our Terms of Use.

Reducing your metabolism could do the trick. Since free radicals are the by-products of energy-producing chemical reactions, species that opt for life in the slow lane will produce less of them. An alternative is to cope with the steady flow of free radicals with antioxidants that neutralise them. Voituron thinks that this tiny salamander will open some promising doors into the biology of ageing for years to come. Species that can escape from an early death often live longer than their peers, including birds and bats that can take to the air, and tree-dwelling mammals that can hide among the branches.

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