Salamandra atra atra

[nikolaus]

Hello,

Today I went out to try my camera (Nikon D50) in field.
And here is what I found:

 

[carpy]

thats awesome mate, congrats.

where abouts did you find them?

Alex

 

[nikolaus]

Hi,

I walked with my family in the alps (of course I wanted somewhere, were I could find something interesting for me).
I found them south of Vienna, this area is a very dynamic system, as the environment changes always when there is a storm or rockfall. I think the attached pictures will give you a nice impression.

Nikolaus

 

[nikolaus]

Hi,

Here http://www.triturus.de/eindex.shtml?ehoellental
you can see a photostory of my fieldtrip.

Nikolaus

 

[tdimler]

Nikolaus,

Thanks so much for the photos and trip account. I believe this is the first time I have seen photos of atra in the wild. What would you say that the temperatures were during your trip? It is interesting to me that these animals are so common in their range...considering their incredibly slow rate of reproduction.

Travis

 

[nikolaus]

Hi Travis,

Well, it was a quite warm day (about 25° C). After a short period of rain, it was very bright.
Personally, I think, that there are just a few predators (maybe birds?!) in the habitat. The primary danger for the animals is to fall off a precipice or to get stroken by falling stones. (That' s why the animals tend to climb as high as possible; mostly they are stopped then by a rock face).

As the populations are very big (on a rainy day you have to take care not to step on the salamanders!!!), you can find quite a big number of young salamanders. (This day we found 18 to 20 animals, whereof 10 were juveniles.)

Nikolaus