What Are Predators of Fire Salamanders?

Fire salamanders are difficult for predators to find because they burrow, hide beneath logs and in leaf litter and live in crevices where they are hard to detect and harder to reach. These salamanders become active at night, reducing opportunities for their detection. Fire salamanders live in Europe, northern Africa, western Asia and some parts of the Middle East.

  1. Predators

    • Not much is known about predators of fire salamanders. According to the Reptiles and Amphibians of France website, most animals that eat these salamanders vomit or die; however, birds and small mammals hunt for young salamanders, and birds, small mammals, trout and dragonfly larvae eat fire salamander larvae. Bird predators of fire salamanders include raptors such as spotted eagles and booted eagles.

    Humans

    • Humans can be considered a predator of fire salamanders, but we don't hunt them for food. People hunt the creatures for pets and for scientific research. Fire salamanders also suffer from humans encroaching on their habitat. Many are killed accidentally by automobiles.

    Poison

    • Fire salamanders have defensive posturing for use against enemies, but their best weapon of defense goes unseen. Fire salamanders have fewer natural enemies because their bodies secrete neurotoxins. The toxins come from parotid glands on top of their heads, behind their eyes, and from poison glands that run down the length of their bodies. The salamanders are capable of squirting or spraying the milky fluid containing the toxins up to a foot away if under threat by predators. While the toxins protect fire salamanders' skin from infections, they cause irritation in humans and can be deadly to small animals, causing temporary blindness or vomiting.

    Coloring

    • The term salamander means "fire lizard." During the Middle Ages, people thought salamanders were created from fire because they came out of logs collected for firewood, but this idea may have been due in part to their coloring. Fire salamanders have aposematic coloration. This conspicuous display of color signals to predators that the salamanders are poisonous. The color of their markings varies and may be white, yellow, orange or red. Their coloration may be distributed over their bodies in blotches or irregular stripes; however, some have nearly their whole bodies covered in a bright color, while others are almost a solid black. Bright colors are a signal to predators that these salamanders are poisonous, reducing the chance that the salamanders will be hunted or eaten.