Salamanders

Last Review/Updated: May 30, 2002

It looks like a lizard and feels like a frog.
Perhaps no other definition sums up a salamander quite so well. In fact, the word salamander comes from a Greek word meaning "lizard-like animal." However, salamanders lack a number of features that lizards possess:

  • scales on their bodies
  • claws on their feet
  • ear-openings
Although there are four families of salamanders native to Canada, only one family (and in fact, one genus) is present in Alberta, the Ambystomatidae, or mole salamanders. The nickname "mole salamanders" comes from the fact they are seldom seen above ground except during the breeding season when they migrate to breeding ponds. In Alberta, there are two species of these salamanders: the tiger salamander and the long-toed salamander.

Salamanders are relatively large amphibians with long tails. Unlike frogs and toads, they do not vocalize, which is another reason they are rarely seen. Some salamanders never leave the aquatic stage, but still become mature adults. This phenomenon (called neoteny) may be an adaptation to particularly dry environments as sometimes found on the prairies. Neoteny sometimes occurs in the tiger salamander.