>At 11:30 pm tonight I opened my front door to turn off my sprinkler and found
>a Long-Toed Salamander on my doorstep! It was so exciting! Thanks to Kelly
>McAllister as a co-author of Amphibians of Washington and Oregon, because
>that's how I was able to identify it. After showing it to my husband, I took
>it down to my frog pond where it happily slipped beneath the surface.

>Maia Kelly
>Selah, WA

Good find, Maia; they are beautiful animals. I don't know if Kelly will
respond to this, but I have one comment that is relevant to our long-past
"mess with nature, save the animal" thread. Presumably the salamander you
found was an adult, and they are entirely terrestrial, having nothing to do
with water except in the spring when they go to ponds to breed! Your
critter may have been a bit surprised when it found itself "happily
slipping beneath the surface." Not that it should do it any harm, but
perhaps it points out again that we should know an awful lot about nature
before we set out to "help" with it.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416