It's always worth it to go out (for Salamandra) ;-)

[Matthijs Hollanders]

I happened to find myself in Jeroen's spot last weekend after some rain.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

I'm sure you have all been worrying about whether I'm still keeping it up.


August 27th 2015

Well, yes, of course!

I have made 23 visits this year so far (33 in all of 2014). After my last post, things became dry and slow, starting in April. A few times 50-100 animals in May, but then the summer calm kicked in. August had some rains, but produced confusing results: once 157, but the other times it was clearly less to even just 8, and never the 200+ from last year. I did get passed the 1000 records mark for this year, but if you know that last year produced 2800, you'll guess that the peak still has to come. This month often produced high numbers but not without rain. Let's see what the (near) future brings...

Larval deposition: still way too early - first larvae popped up in November the last couple of years. Nearly all ditches, pools and even brooks are still dry, despite some heavy thunderstorms.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

140 yesterday.

This guy looks to have a crappy left hind leg. Nothing too special - larval cannibalism and other causes make quite a lot of animals displaying this.

picture removed (mario)

Looking closer, a crazy regeneration error comes into perspective. Didn't notice until I looked at the pic at home.

picture removed (mario)

[Aleksandar Simovic]

Nice numbers Jeroen and that anomaly looks interesting, never saw something like that

[Paul Bachhausen]

Found this male 2008 in Ratingen, NRW:

An other trip also a female with 4 foots on one hindleg.
But just dont find the photo.
Paul

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

PY, it's not just a simple toe thing.

An other trip also a female with 4 foots on one hindleg. But just dont find the photo.

Id' love to see it, if you could locate it.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

are these some result of intraspecific larvae attak and cannibalism ? saw lot of time this behavior

What I can tell you, is that mutilated toes seem much more common in another Belgian population where the available water bodies are small. Small water bodies lead to crowded water and a larger change of cannibalism, especially if other food sources are scarce. I see this far less frequently, but, yes, this particular teratogenesis could be the result of badly regenerated toe/limb cannibalism. It's observed in newts as well (who have far better regenerative abilities in adulthood).

[Paul Bachhausen]

Last Weekend, Bergisches Land (Remscheid, NRW, Germany), only 5 °C but a lot of Salamanders
Moving slow, but moving



in water:


at home:


juvenil:


Mr. X


more:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/salamanderseiten/albums/72157657650228134
Paul

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

Great! Here, temps were 4-5°C higher on Friday. Counted 157, which is still in the top 5 for 2015. I guess I'm lucky to live in a milder climate, so I'm looking forward to a wet and mild winter

[Paul Bachhausen]

I made photos of 48 different S.s.t - but saw more not near the path and did not climb there.
So I guess app. 70.
Other year, same place more then 200!