Indeed the heat is back on. 134 animals last night. 70 females of which 41 were depositing larvae. The yellowest animal I've seen so far: Female in the water.
And then something really surprising. I witnessed a mating attempt. A relatively small male was trying to mate a pregnant female. She didn't seem to like his efforts very much. I managed to make a very short video.
After this the struggling went on for about 10 seconds and then she broke free and ran off. I checked the male, and this is how his cloaca looked like immediately after the attempt:
Then I searched for the female. She had fled to the nearest tree and tried to hide in a submerged hole between the roots.
Which makes me believe that she had other plans for the evening. You can't blame him for trying though. Life must be hard enough when you don't have a penis!
Balogová, M. & M. Uhrin (2015): Sex-biased dorsal spotted patterns in the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra).- SALAMANDRA 51(1): 12–18
Abstract: Sexual dichromatism has been reported for several amphibian species. Generally, in the animal kingdom, males are more colourful than females. This more pronounced colouration in either quantitative (area of pigmentation) or qualitative (hue, saturation, brightness) form probably plays a role in courtship or mate attraction, but one common polytypic species Salamandra salamandra is still unexplored in this conjunction. We investigated the dorsal patterns of wintering salamanders captured from December 2012 to April 2013 in six underground shelters in Slovakia. We recorded significant size differences between the sexes in all of the morphometric characteristics evaluated, and using free image analysis software, we provide first evidence of the existence of sexual dichromatism in this species, as males exhibit significantly larger yellow spots on the dorsum and tail than females. No significant sex-related differences in the number of spots and their qualitative colour parameters (hue, saturation, brightness) were detected, though. In both sexes, spots along the vertebral line predominate. The dominance in colouration in females on the left-hand side and the weak correlations between snout–vent lengths and spot characteristics were also surveyed, as was the total area covered with spots.
After a long month of cold and dry nights, the last week has offered several "more than 100" nights, as the rather regular February-March dip is followed by a second dedicated session of larvae deposition.
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