Alpine Salamander

• GeneralIt lays no eggs: it gives birth to two fully formed young after a gestation of up to three years.
• It has the longest gestation of any land vertebrate: two to three years depending on altitude, longer than any elephant or whale, and only one or two fully formed young are born.
• It needs no water to breed: the embryos develop entirely inside the mother, feeding on the unfertilised eggs and on uterine secretions, an adaptation to high mountains where standing water freezes.
• It is glossy black all over, a colouring that lets it absorb heat quickly during the few hours of sunshine in the high Alps.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)

Habitat and environment

Alpine meadows, scree and mountain forest of the Alps and the Dinarides, between 800 and 2,800 metres

Sexual maturity

4 years

Gestation / incubation

Up to 3 years of gestation

Litter / clutch size

2 live young

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamandra_atra

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.