When Johann Weikhard von Valvasor first draw an olm in 1689 , the famed Slovenian polymath consider he ’d place center on a baby dragon . After all , local folklore explained that fierce dragons dwelled beneath the planet ’s impertinence and these strange pallid creature seemed to magically issue from Earth ’s surface during heavy rains .
While their mythical prowess may have been a tad overstated , these bizarre little beasts are still incredibly fascinating and unique .
The Proteus anguinus ( Proteus anguinus ) is an aquatic salamander that can only be found in the Balkans , namely the underground cave systems of the Adriatic sea-coast in northeastern Italy , Slovenia , Croatia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , and northern share of Montenegro .
“Alright, Mr DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.“Image credit: Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock.com
Measuring around 20 centimeter ( 7.8 inches ) from empennage to snoot , they look a bit like a wan pink snake with a spindly stage set of arms and legs . Their ghostly skin colour is a consequence of spending their spirit in pitch shot - black cave where pigmentation would go unnoticed . However , their cutis hold back the power to create melanin and can turn dark if they are display to light .
Owing to this life of darkness , the eyes of the Proteus anguinus are underdeveloped , covered in skin , and effectively blind . Their eyes even appear in Charles Darwin ’s seminal bookOn the Origin of Species – a major PR rise for the little - know species – as an model of an animal losing a forcible feature film due to disuse . However , they do appear to have some process photoreceptors as they float in the diametric direction into the light .
To make up for this extremely poor seeing , olms have a sharp sense of smell and hearing . They arearmed withhighly sensitive chemoreceptors that they use to pick up extremely low concentrations of constitutional material in the water supply . They employ this good sense to sniffle out prey such as larvae , shrimp , bug , and small snail . If no food is about , however , it ’s not a big deal since they can go with a repast for years .
Another weapon in their sensory arsenal is an ampullary electronic organ that can observe electric field of operations for the role of navigating lightless cave .
Since they have no natural predator , they manage to defend an incredibly slothful fashion of liveliness . In 2020 , scientists track and monitor 26 olms living in a cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina andfoundthey only moved around 5 meters ( 16 metrical unit ) in a class on median . In one case , they found an olm that did not move an inch in 2,569 days – that ’s seven years .
This relaxed lifestyle pay off , though . Olm can live for up to 100 eld with the mean grownup get to 68.5 years of age . While studying this remarkable longevity , scientistsdiscoveredthe species possesses a number of “ common genes colligate with step-up in life-time ” .
On the Tree of Life , olmsbelong on an isolated branchlet . Olms diverged from all other amphibians almost 110 million yr ago and are the only life species in the genusProteus , but are bear on to other fire hook found across the world .
One of their closest relatives is theaxolotl , a smiley - faced salamander that lives exclusively in Mexico ’s Lake Xochimilco . Like axolotl , olm are an object lesson of neoteny , the retentivity of juvenile feature in the grownup animal . The most obvious of these baby - like feature article is their external gills which sit at the back of the head in two tufts .
alas , olms front a number of experiential threats . According to theIUCN Red List , the metal money is considered vulnerable to extinction and their populations are wince . The trouble face by this unique chap is primarily the event of pollution , perturbation to their fragmented habitat , and other human - drive changes .
