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Fun Stuff for Everyone
MISCELLANEOUS
FACTS
The name salamander comes from an Arab-Persian word meaning,
"lives in fire." Salamanders got this name because of the
belief that the European black and yellow fire salamander
could walk through fire. Salamanders are known to crawl out
of logs that have been thrown onto fires. Folk tales have
stretched these facts and it is widely believed that salamanders
were unhurt by the fire in any means.
Salamanders have the largest biomass of any other vertebrate.
For example, lungless salamanders found in one redwood forest
in the Berkeley Hills in California averaged six to seven
hundred individuals per acre.
The total weight of salamanders in northeastern forests
is twice that of birds at their peak breeding time and about
equal to that of small mammals. Salamanders produce more tissue
annually than birds or mammals.
Salamanders lack vocal chords and in some instances, noise
is made when air is forced from throat under stress of handling.
Nearly 50% of all salamanders die during hibernation because they
do not move from areas that are too cold for them. This happens because
they are not capable of regulating their body temperature through behavioral
methods.
Reference:
Rockwell, David. The Nature of North America. Berkley Publishing Group:
New York, New York, 1998.
www.users.interport.net/~spiff/main/resourcestxt/Dan%20Asay.html
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