Renee Wilde goes searching for rare cave salamanders in southwestern Ohio with a researcher who works to help keep track of and preserve the state's endangered amphibian population.
Amphibians are declining by 40% world wide, according to the latest Global Amphibian Assessment. The biggest loss has been the salamander, which has declined significantly across the globe due to disease and habitat loss.
The impact can be seen in Ohio as well. Jeff Davis, a researcher and consultant who studies Ohio’s frogs, toads, snakes and salamanders, monitors demographics like the health and size of the population.
I recently tagged along with Davis and Summit County Park District employee Tucker Cavanaugh, who had driven down from Akron hoping to see his first cave salamander.
Davis took us to two different locations.
The first: a stone spring house on private property that contains one of the biggest populations of cave salamanders Davis has seen in Ohio.
“There are no caves in southwest Ohio, but the spring house is a man-made cave,” Davis said.
If there are no caves in this part of Ohio, why do we have cave salamanders?
“So southwest Ohio is just limestone. Every stream you go into is just a billion broken pieces of limestone rocks,” Davis explained on the drive to the site. “And so in between each layer of limestone is a layer of shale. And the shale is soft and it erodes away, and when it does it leaves these little gaps between the layers of limestone.
“And they can be anywhere from a quarter of an inch to an inch,” he added. “So essentially what these gaps in the rock strata do is they allow the cave salamanders to move into subterranean habitats. And they spend about 90% of their life underground, so when we find them, we’re seeing just a snapshot of their typical existence.”
When we arrived at the spring house, we were joined by the property owners. It was a tight fit for four people in the small, rocky enclosure, where we balanced on flat stones that sit just above the water level on the floor.
I’m not going to lie, it was super creepy, for me.
Once the door shut, we were surrounded by darkness. The only light came from a couple of small flashlights and a cellphone. And in those circles of light dozens of small, colorful orange salamanders covered in black dots clung to the stone walls.
Davis and Cavanaugh were in herpetologist heaven.
“What I have found is that during July and August is when you get the peak numbers,” Davis said as he pointed out the colorful salamanders on the wall. “And I think it’s because it’s so hot and humid outside, and with the temperature in here being low, there is a tremendous amount of condensation on the walls. And, so, these guys essentially drink by laying their belly on wet surfaces.”
Next we headed to a wildlife sanctuary that’s off limits to the public, where Davis has been monitoring a population of cave salamanders living in a rocky stream bed that was affected when a gas pipeline broke and spilled oil into the area.
Davis and Cavanaugh followed the dry creek bed up the hill, turning over rocks as they went.
Halfway up the hill, Cavanaugh turned over a rock and found a cave salamander.
“I almost said ‘This is the rock,’” Cavanaugh said, laughing as he found his first cave salamander. “It’s just perfectly flat against the dirt, and it’s a good size. And you can tell the dirt around it is really moist, so the dirt under it is going to be even better.”
Cavanaugh found a few more salamanders under rocks as we climbed. Davis took notes and measured them.
“So the juveniles bolt, and they can be surprisingly fast,” Davis said, bending over the rock where the cave salamander was hiding. “So the first thing I want you to do, if you can cup your hands so you have more control of it, just so I can get a picture of its pattern before it bolts.”
All in all it was a pretty good day for salamander hunting, considering it was October and extremely dry.
We headed off in different directions across the state to our respective homes, savoring the visions of polka-dotted salamanders.
“I’ve never seen one that I didn’t look at and say, ‘Wow, you are so awesome,” Davis said as we parted ways.
This story was brought to our attention by long-time WYSO listener Michael Wright. Wright is an artist who has illustrated several of Jeff Davis’s books on Ohio frogs and toads.
If you know someone who does a job that we should know more about, contact Renee Wilde at rwilde@wyso.org.
