Salamanders in France

Aug 8, 2011
John Blatchford

Fire Salamander - Se90 - Wikimedia Commons

Fire Salamanders occur all over France, while the Alps and Pyrenees add the rarer Alpine Salamander and Pyreneen Brook Salamander to the list of three.

Any deciduous forest in France is likely to hide Fire Salamanders, and they are common and very easy to identify. The other two are rarer.

The Fire Salamander

All salamanders look like lizards, but have a moist skin and no scales.

Fire Salamanders (Salamandra salamandra) are nocturnal (active at night) and will usually be found hiding under logs or in damp leaf litter. They do not usually travel far from water, so the best places for them are close to small streams running through damp forests.

There are no regular patterns to the body coloring (each individual is different), but if it is black and yellow then its a Fire Salamander.

They mate on land, but the females deposits the young in water:

when a couple meet the male rubs his head against the female

he then grabs hold of her with his front legs

while he is doing this he deposits a packet of sperm (in a special structure known as a 'spermatophore') on the ground

the male then drags the female over the spermatophore, and she takes it into her body

The young develop inside the female, and when they are ready she deposits them in a nearby stream. These larvae look a bit like small adults, but with external gills and a newt-like tail. They develop the yellow and black coloration as they leave the water and become adult (metamorphosis).

Finding them will often involve moving rotting logs, but if this is done then the log should always be replaced exactly where it came from (and the right way up of course).

Yellow and black is a universal warning combination (think wasp), and when threatened Fire Salamanders secrete a toxic fluid called 'samandarin' – which causes convulsions, hypertension, and hyperventilation – so it is best not to handle them roughly (if at all). If they have been handled it is a good idea to wash your hands immediately afterwards in a nearby stream.

Fire Salamanders can live for many years and are sometimes kept as pets (Fire Salamander Care Sheet).

The Alpine Salamander

The Alpine Salamander (Salamandra atra) is all black. It is only found in France in the Alps (although the range extends further east into the mountainous regions of Yugoslavia and Albania).

Unlike the Fire Salamander the Alpine Salamander is fully terrestrial and gives birth to fully metamorphosed young.

Pyreneen Brook Salamander

The Pyreneen Brook Salamander (Euproctus asper) is only found in the mountain waters of the Pyrenees – where it is 'endemic' (found nowhere else).

Trout eat young euprocts (the French name), so only look for them where there are no trout.

They are usually found around 2,000 meters in cold water (less than 15°C ).

While they may be abundant in suitable locations they are rare and fully protected in France. They should not be disturbed, and certainly not captured.

Sources:

'Salamandra salamandra', University of Michigan.
'Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe', Collins Field Guide, Arnold et al. ISBN 0 00 219318 3.