The Olm From Texas !

Now this is something really cool I learnt today. At least for me, that I have a thing for strange animals and stuff.

So, you may have heard of the Olm, a snake-like, exclusively cave dwelling salamander found in Europe.

Now, being an exclusively cave dwelling creatures means that it comes with all kinds of weird traits. For example, it is one of the few amphibians that is entirely aquatic. And has an abnormally long life span, possibly over 100 years in the wild! And of course it just looks...weird:

source

Anyways, Wikipedia has a great page if you want to read more on it.

Now to the cool part. Olms only live in certain caves of Europe. But there is another salamander from Texas that looks almost the same, despite coming from a different family. And this one is exclusively cave dwelling as well.

Specimens have been collected at seven localities in the Purgatory Creek system and along the San Marcos Fault near San Marcos, Texas. Adults and immature larvae are well-adapted for living in underground streams in caves, and many probably inhabit deep recesses that are not accessible to collectors. source

Meet the Texas blind salamander, scientifically described as Eurycea rathbuni:

Public Domain, via Wikipedia

As you can see they look like two drops of water!

The main difference is that the Texas salamander has a less elongated body and sports 4 fingers on the forelimbs in comparison to the olm that has three.

Unfortunately, it appears like the the Texas blind salamander is critically endangered although the overall population seems stablish for now.

Here are a couple videos I found showing this cute little fella in action, enjoy:

https://youtube.com/shorts/-CMvGuMsQ_Y?si=a9LGG1DlH-h0C8Oz

Ok, hoped you enjoyed discovering yet another wonder of nature with me. Feel free to visit Wikipedia if you'd like to read more on it!

See you soon with more strange animals, in the meantime feel free to check the links below for similar to posts!

More Strange Animal Stuff
If you enjoyed this post here are some more amazing creatures I have recently blogged about:

• A Mushroom Sprouting on a Frog
• The Glowing Millipede
• The dead leaf moth
• The "flies eating bird shit "-like moth
• The Ant-like Mantis
• The Moth That Mimics Jumping Spiders
• The Iron Snail
• The Snake with the Googly Eyes
• The Dead Leaf Butterfly
• The Snail Tank
• That's one epic goat
• Why These Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears
• The penguin that takes ten thousand naps..every single day
• Real life face hugger
• The bacterium that poops gold
• The Cocktupus
• The Electric Clam
• You will never guess what this jellyfish like creature actually is!
• Half Spider, Half Ant Thing
• The lizard that swims...in sand!
• The Skeleton Panda Squirt
• Cutest Anglerfish Ever!

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