Tiger Ambistoma (Ambystoma Tigrinum)

2023 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 22:49

Tiger ambistoma, or tiger salamander, or North American ambistoma (Ambystoma tigrinum) lives in North America everywhere: in deciduous and coniferous forests, alpine and subalpine meadows, fields, semi-deserts and deserts. Thanks to the pineal gland (pineal gland), they are perfectly oriented in space, the owner of excellent visual memory. Can eat prey, which is a fifth of its length.

Area

Southern Canada, USA, Northern Mexico.

Appearance

Tiger Ambistoma is the largest ambistoma in the world. There are currently eight subspecies. The head is large, the muzzle is wide, rounded. The eyes are small, round, set wide apart. The front legs have four toes and the hind legs have five. There are two tubercles on the soles of the paws. The trunk of the ambistoma is intercepted from the sides by 13 grooves. The vertebrae are biconcave, the angular bone of the skull is absent, the palatine teeth are located transversely. Thanks to the pineal gland (pineal gland), they are perfectly oriented in space, it has excellent visual memory. The epiphysis is located behind the eyes.

Color

Yellow spots or stripes are scattered over a brown or dark olive background. The belly of the ambistoma is gray. The lower lip and throat in adults are colored yellow; the intensity of the coloration is individual for each individual. There are albino forms.

Dimensions

Sizes up to 30 cm, of which more than half is on the tail.

Life span

Tiger ambistomas live up to 20 years.

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Habitat

They live everywhere: deciduous and coniferous forests, alpine and subalpine meadows, fields, semi-deserts and deserts, waterfalls (rarely). It can be found in open places, meadows, pastures, forests, fields, and even in cities. To reproduce, ambistomas need water (water temperature 18-24 ° C): swamps, lakes and other permanent bodies of water. Tiger ambistoma prefers sandy or loose mail.

Enemies:

Enemies include birds, raccoons, possums. Predatory fish and bullfrog hunt for larvae and caviar. When the enemy approaches, the tiger ambistoma takes a defensive posture: the body bends in an arc, the tail is raised and sways from side to side. When hesitates, milky toxin is shaken off the tail, which falls on the enemy. Some predators hunt ambist in spite of their toxins, such as raccoons. They roll around in the mud to the ambistova until all the toxins are wiped off her skin.

Nutrition / food

The tiger ambistoma can eat prey that makes up a fifth of the amphibian's length. Up to 30-60 victims were found in the stomachs of an ambist 9-10 cm long. It hunts using the sense of smell, attacking both moving and stationary prey. Approaching the prey almost close, the ambistoma raises the upper jaw, sticks out its tongue, grabs the prey and pulls it into the mouth. Adults and larvae eat everything that is slightly smaller in size: worms, molluscs and other invertebrates.

Behavior

During the day, the tiger ambistoma hides in the holes of rodents, under snags, stones, and goes hunting at night. If there is nothing suitable, then he can dig a hole on his own. Avoids the sun and open spaces. They prefer damp places, they do not move away from water bodies. It goes into water bodies during the breeding season. Wintering begins in October. Winters in rodent burrows.

Social structure

Lead a solitary lifestyle, except for the breeding season.

Reproduction

Fertilization in an ambist is internal. The female captures the spermatophores laid by the males with the cloaca, and lays eggs sacs, in which there are up to 200-500 eggs (1.9-2.6 mm in diameter). One female can lay 100-1000 eggs per season. Spawning begins 24-48 hours after fertilization, at night. The female lays eggs, attaching it to twigs, grass stalks, leaves, stones, driftwood, i.e. everything that lies at the bottom of the reservoir. With a large congestion, males begin to fight with each other for the best places. The winner usually finishes the loser. Sometimes the male goes on a trick and deposits his spermatophores on top of the spermatophores of other males.

Season / period of breeding

In the northern territories, eggs are laid in March-June, in the southern - from December to February, in the southwestern - from July to August.

Puberty

Maturation occurs at the age of 4-5 years.

Incubation of eggs

Caviar development lasts 24-30 days.

Development

Newborn larvae are 13-17 mm long. The head is flattened, the eyes are small. In the first 4-6 days they live off yolk reserves. The larvae of the tiger ambistoma are predators, they hunt aquatic insects and invertebrates. They prefer warm water - 23-26 ° C. Development of ambistoma larvae in water is 75-120 days. Having reached a length of 80-86 mm, the larvae metamorphize and leave the reservoir. In the mountains, the larvae develop for about a year. Cases of complete neoteny are common. In the absence of food, cases of cannibalism are frequent.

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Benefit / harm to humans

Large larvae eat small fish, but compared to predatory fish, the damage from their actions is extremely small. They eat harmful insects.

On a note:

As a defense, the tiger ambistoma secretes milk toxin from the parotid glands (paratoids).