While driving to Richmond Hill, a suburb of Toronto, the GPS re-routed me to avoid the road closure on Stouffville Road. I turned on the radio and it said that when it rains in October, a portion of Stouffville Road in Richmond Hill is closed so that the endangered Jefferson Salamanders can cross the road in safety. The road is also closed in spring (March – April) to facilitate their safe crossing.
Our Grade 5 Biology textbook had the Salamander as an example of an amphibian along with the frog. We were all familiar with the frog, but not the salamander. Mr Venky, our biology teacher at Sainik School Amaravathinagar said it is a lizard like amphibian and is an inhabitant of North and South America.
Salamanders are tailed amphibians belonging to the order Caudata. There are around 800 known species worldwide. North America is home to more species of salamanders than anywhere else in the world.
Most salamanders resemble lizards and are sometimes erroneously mistaken for them. However, as amphibians, salamanders lack scales and claws and have moist, glandular skin. They breathe through gills, lungs, the lining of their mouth, and their skin, sometimes in combination, sometimes separately.
Salamanders feed on insects, worms, snails, and other small animals, including members of their own species. Like other amphibians, they absorb water through their skin, and they require a moist habitat. In regions where the temperature goes below freezing, they often hibernate.
During October, the Jefferson Salamanders, an endangered species, scuttle across the Stouffville Road as they migrate from their summer breeding grounds to return to their winter habitat in the deciduous forest. A section of Stouffville Road is in the Oak Ridges, which has many of the features the Jefferson salamander requires, including undisturbed natural forests, rocky outcrops, wetlands and ponds. As the temperature drops, they make their way across the road, to their winter habitat in the deciduous forest to survive the cold. Most Jefferson Salamanders relocate on rainy nights.
Come spring and the salamanders, under the cover of night, poke their heads out of the burrows in the deciduous forests as first warm rains hit the ground. They cross the road to breed in swamps, ponds or even roadside ditches.
Most adult salamanders hide by day and feed by night. Some remain hidden underground until the breeding season, or they may emerge only when levels of moisture and temperature are appropriate.
Salamanders can sense vibrations but are unable to hear. They have two nostrils connected to the mouth, eyes that often have movable lids, a tongue that is often protrusible, a skeleton that is largely bony, and a three-chambered heart.
Like all amphibians, salamanders are Ectotherms, meaning that they do not generate their own body heat. Instead, their body temperature is dependent on their environment. For example, amphibians can regulate their body temperature through behaviour and habitat use (e.g., by moving in and out of shade). This is known as Behavioural Thermoregulation.
While it’s unknown how many Jefferson salamanders currently live in the region, their population is generally assumed to be declining. Such efforts by the municipality will go a long way in ensuring that their numbers grow.
REJINCES 