New research reveals the rare and surprising behavior of blind olms venturing from darkness into aboveground springs.
Cave-dwelling creatures often bear the characteristics of animals unaccustomed to light. Their skin, or scales, are blanched, and their eyes range from “of little use” to purely ornamental. But that doesn’t stop the serpentine cave salamanders of southeastern Europe from sneaking up to the surface now and again. The odd-looking animal is an olm , or proteus, an obscure salamander once thought to be the offspring of dragons.
The research team observed olms in 15 springs in eastern Italy during the daytime and nighttime; olms were more present in the springs at nighttime than daytime . One spring contained olms 64% of the observed time.The researchers also handled 12 of the olms; 5 of out of the 12 puked up earthworms when picked up. The earthworms, notably, were species that live in soils on the surface, as opposed to earthworms that inhabit cave environments.
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