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Image Credit: sketch of Tiger Salamander in Amphibians  Tiger Salamander Ambystoma tigrinum
The Tiger Salamander is a cold-blooded amphibian that can breathe
through its skin. It does not have hair, scales or feathers. Instead,
it has dark skin that is covered with yellow blotches and stripes.
It lives in the dry part of the south Okanagan near alkaline lakes
and ponds. To protect itself from the hot summer sun, the Tiger
Salamander finds shelter in rotten logs, under rocks and in burrows
made by mammals. This creature goes out of its shelter only when
the temperatures are cool, like at night or after a rainstorm.
The female Tiger Salamander lays her eggs near the shoreline of
ponds and lakes. After two or three weeks the eggs hatch. The
larvae stay hidden in weeds near the top of the pond. It takes
three or four months for the larvae of the Tiger Salamander to
grow into adults.
Tiger Salamanders usually eat insects, earthworms, and snails.
Sometimes they attack a frog or a baby mouse.
These amphibians can live for as long as twenty years. They are
an endangered species in the Thompson-Okanagan region. Farmers
use the pond water for their crops, grazing cows trample the habitat
and chemicals draining into the water can kill the larvae.
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