draw the spermatophores into an internal cavity where eggs are
waiting. Safely inside, the sperm are then released from the sac
and fertilize the pearly eggs.
A few days later, each female will lay a mass of one hundred to
two hundred eggs in a gelatinous mass. The expectant mother will
linger nearby until the eggs hatch, but then she returns, alone, to
the woods. The newborn salamanders stay behind in the safety of
the pool for several months, metamorphosing until they are capable
of life on land. By the time the pool has dried up and forced them
out, their gills will be replaced by lungs and they are ready to forage
on their own. The juvenile salamanders, or newts, are wanderers
who will not return to the pond until they are sexually mature, four
to five years later. Salamanders can be long-lived beings. Adults
may make the mating migration through a lifetime as long as
eighteen years, but only if they can cross the road.
Amphibians are one of the most vulnerable groups on the planet.
Subject to habitat loss as wetlands and forests disappear,
amphibians are the collateral damage we blindly accept as the cost
of development. And because amphibians breathe through their
skin, they have little ability to filter out toxins at that moist
membrane between animal and atmosphere. Even when their
habitats are safe from industry, their atmosphere may not be.
Toxins in the air and water, acid rain, heavy metals, and synthetic
hormones all end up in the water in which they gestate.
Developmental abnormalities like six-legged frogs and twisted
salamanders are now found throughout the industrialized world.
Tonight the salamanders’ biggest threat is the cars that go
speeding by, their occupants unaware of the spectacle that is