Spotted salamander Facts for Kids

The spotted salamander is black with bright yellow spots. It hides under logs and rocks in the forest. It comes out at night when it rains.

Spotted salamanders spend most of their lives underground, in animal burrows or under logs. On the first warm, rainy nights of spring, they walk to woodland pools to lay jelly-like eggs. The young swim with feathery gills, then grow legs and leave the pool in summer.

Spotted salamanders often return to the same woodland pool year after year. Many of these pools, called vernal pools, form only in spring and dry up later, so they are home to few fish. Green algae grow inside the jelly of the eggs, making oxygen that helps the young salamanders grow. Because small woodland pools are easy to drain or fill in, saving them helps salamanders and frogs.