The Season of Western Tiger Salamander

As I scroll through my image archives something interesting came to my mind because of a photoshoot I did a few years ago. I quickly glanced at my calendar; I realized that it was almost mid-August. An interesting phenomenon happens in my favorite National park close to Winnipeg at this time of the year.

Riding Mountain National Park is known for its rich biodiversity, as we keep an eye on big animals like Black Bears, Moose, Lynx, Foxes, and wolves, on a rainy cool evening after mid-August, an explosion of Western Tiger Salamander happens. I reckon this to the largest animal gathering in Manitoba next to the red-sided garter snakes gathering in Narcisse snake dens in Manitoba.  I am a careful driver, I will avoid driving over salamanders at all costs as they slowly march out of their ponds around Highway 10, Lake Audy Road, and side roads in and around Erickson, Manitoba, These Locations come from my observation during the last five years and western tiger salamanders can be found all around the national park and close by towns.

 There is no better time than now to give some attention to them as due to COVID-19 restrictions Winnipeggers are pretty much stuck in Canada this summer, visits to Riding Mountain National Park have increased. Please pay attention when you’re driving and carefully try not to drive them over as they will highly appreciate this gesture.

 

It’s all about their amphibious life cycle, when spring arrives, soon after the Ice is off on wetlands and lakes, they migrate to breeding sites and females lay eggs in small clusters attached to stems of plants below the water’s surface. Soon after they reach the juvenile stage, they migrate en mass from breeding sites into terrestrial habitats in mid-August. The result is the massive explosion of salamanders you observe at this time of the year. Salamanders do not hesitate to cross a busy highway. As they move to the terrestrial stage of their life cycle, they dig up holes and prey on bugs, and move back to wetlands and lakes to breed on ice-free springs.

 

 

Classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, Even though salamanders have a low survival rate, some are thought to be able to live up to 12 to 15 years; their patchy skin patterns are unique to each individual.

COMMON NAME:  Western Tiger Salamander

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ambystoma mavortium

TYPE: Amphibians

DIET: Carnivor

AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD:

12 to 15 years

SIZE:

7 to 14 inches

HABITAT AND ECOLOGY:

Forest, Grassland, Wetlands (inland), Desert

THREATS:

Transportation & service corridors (Roads & railroads)

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE:

Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan); Mexico (Sonora, Coahuila); United States (South Dakota, Utah, Arizona, Kansas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, Idaho, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington)

 

References

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/199970/2623523

http://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=AAAAA01142

https://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_w_tiger_salaman_tigree_1113_e.pdf

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/26749-Ambystoma-tigrinum