F orty million years before the first dinosaurs evolved, a ferocious predator lurked in swampy waters. Its skull alone was over two feet long. It lay in wait, its jaws open wide, preparing to ...

Perhaps the strangest-looking animal in this catch was a species dubbed Eurycea rathbuni, now known as the Texas blind salamander. Upon discovery, herpetologist Leonhard Stejneger described them ...

The pools dry out under the summer sun and are devoid of predators, making them ideal nurseries for tadpoles and salamander larvae. As we walked, Heady pointed out a wide range of other spring ...

The various Ensatina salamanders of the Pacific coast all ... so they are vulnerable to predators. They also seem to have difficulty finding mates, so the hybrids do not reproduce successfully.

This story ran in the April 2016 issue of National Geographic magazine. More than 20 million years ago a salamander hatchling less than three-quarters of an inch long met a traumatic end.

About an inch and a half long, the animal was a salamander with an oddly-shaped tongue. It was described as a species new to science. Bolitoglossa digitigrada, or the Rio Santa Rosa mushroom ...