Fire Salamanders
Let's Learn About Fire Salamanders
Word of the Week
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Fast Facts
Where do fire salamanders live?
Axolotls are found in two small lakes near Mexico City, Mexico.
The lakes axolotls depend on have been drained to stop flooding in Mexico City. Only a few small areas remain for the axolotl.
What do fire salamanders eat?
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What traits do fire salamanders share?
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How many fire salamanders are there?
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Fire Salamanders Challenge
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Learn More!
Glossary
Adaptation
The process by which a species becomes more fit for its environment over the course of several generations. It is a result of natural selection.
Albino
Used to describe animals with a color mutation causing them to appear all white with red/pink eyes.
Amphibian
A cold-blooded vertebrate with permeable skin that goes through a metamorphosis!
Aquatic
Living in water.
Cannibalism
An animal that preys on members of its own species.
Captivity
When animals are kept and cared for by people (like in a zoo).
Carnivore
An animal that eats other animals.
Cold-Blooded
An animal that relies on the outside temperature to regulate their body temperature (reptiles and amphibians). Also known as ectothermic.
Critically Endangered
An rating from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that indicates a species is at an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild
Eft
The aquatic larval form of a salamander.
Endemic
Living in one place and nowhere else.
Extinct in the Wild
Used to describe animals that only exist in captivity, like at a zoo.
Gills
The respiratory organ that allows fish, amphibians in their larval phase, and crustaceans to absorb oxygen molecules from water.
Hormone
A natural chemical that an animal’s body makes that controls how its body functions.
Invasive Species
An organism that has been introduced to an area it is not native to.
Larva
The aquatic phase of an amphibian's life cycle occurring after the amphibian exits the egg.
Leucistic
Used to describe an animal with a mutation that causes them to appear mostly or completely white (with regularly colored eyes).
Metamorphosis
The process of an animal changing and developing from an egg to an adult through different life phases.
Neoteny
The condition of an animal retaining its juvenile traits as an adult.
Predator
An animal that hunts other animals for food.
Prey
An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.
Regeneration
The process by which an animal regrows a body part.
Reproduce
The act of producing offspring.
Species
A closely related group of animals with similar characteristics that are capable of reproducing (example: tigers).
Vertebrate
An animal that has a backbone.
