A beautiful salamander

This little fellow is a natural beauty. It is called spotted salamander as well as yellow-spotted salamander. I found this one in the woods under leaf litter near a small pond.

The spotted salamander can grow to a length of close to 10 inches and live 20 years or more. This one is about 6 inches long. Because its skin is slick and will dry out easily, this salamander spends most of its life underground out of sight. It eats worms, spiders and other woodland insects.

The spotted salamander is seldom seen above ground, coming out only on wet rainy days or at night to hunt. The spots on its head are pale orange. It spends winter brumating underground.