Can you find two salamanders in this picture?
Not becoming a meal is the basis for many salamander adaptations, physical, chemical, and behavioral. The California Slender Salamander, Batrachoseps attenuatus, is no exception: it employs a mix so potent that a snake vs salamander encounter resulted in a surprising outcome.
As a starting point, their dark grey-black coloration combined with a dorsal stripe in one of various leaf-litter shades makes these salamanders almost invisible at first glance. Not surprisingly, like many animals with cryptic coloration, their first line of defense is to remain still.
Escape behaviors noted by Stebbins in the 1972 edition of California Amphibians and Reptiles include flipping about violently or wriggling away rapidly with movement similar to that of a snake. A seized tail may break off and thrash about, mentions Stebbins, sidetracking a would-be predator. An account by Robert W. Hansen and David B. Wake on AmphibiaWeb mentions flipping behavior that can propel the salamander 10 to 20 cm away, described in a 1974 Herpetologica paper by Brodie et al.
Predators avoided in this fashion include snakes, larger salamanders, birds, and mice. But what happens if a snake gulps a California Slender Salamander head first?
In a set of experiments conducted at the University of Chicago by zoologist Stevan J. Arnold, now at Oregon State University, Arnold observed salamander defenses against garter snakes. A photo included in his 1982 Copeia paper documents a garter snake seizing a California Slender Salamander by the head. The next photograph shows the salamander's tail looped around the snake's neck, evidently the result of thrashing on the part of the salamander, which led to the salamander's release. Unfortunately for the snake, during its salamander encounter, the snake was coated with gluey secretions from the salamander's skin. A third photo shows the snake stuck to itself in a coiled position with its mouth glued open. Score: Salamander-1, Snake-0.–Anne M. Rosenthal
Escape behaviors noted by Stebbins in the 1972 edition of California Amphibians and Reptiles include flipping about violently or wriggling away rapidly with movement similar to that of a snake. A seized tail may break off and thrash about, mentions Stebbins, sidetracking a would-be predator. An account by Robert W. Hansen and David B. Wake on AmphibiaWeb mentions flipping behavior that can propel the salamander 10 to 20 cm away, described in a 1974 Herpetologica paper by Brodie et al.
Predators avoided in this fashion include snakes, larger salamanders, birds, and mice. But what happens if a snake gulps a California Slender Salamander head first?
In a set of experiments conducted at the University of Chicago by zoologist Stevan J. Arnold, now at Oregon State University, Arnold observed salamander defenses against garter snakes. A photo included in his 1982 Copeia paper documents a garter snake seizing a California Slender Salamander by the head. The next photograph shows the salamander's tail looped around the snake's neck, evidently the result of thrashing on the part of the salamander, which led to the salamander's release. Unfortunately for the snake, during its salamander encounter, the snake was coated with gluey secretions from the salamander's skin. A third photo shows the snake stuck to itself in a coiled position with its mouth glued open. Score: Salamander-1, Snake-0.–Anne M. Rosenthal
Close-up view of the two salamanders in the top photo
amphibiaweb.org
Arnold, Steven J. 1982. A Quantitative approach to antipredator performance: salamander defense against snake attack. Copeia No. 2: 247-253.
Stebbins, Robert C. 1972. California Amphibians and Reptiles. University of California Press, Berkeley.
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