Experience Your Smokies: The Salamanders of the GreatSmokies

Hiking down Purchase Knob

Did you know that the The Great Smoky Mountains are known as the â��Salamander Capital ofthe Worldâ��?� Nope, Iâ��m not kidding!� It really is!� In fact, the majority ofvertebrate (backboned) animals, including human visitors, in the park on any given day aresalamanders.� And let me tell you, these little guys are a lot of fun to learn about.� In fact,that is how I spent this past Saturday: studying salamanders!� I participated in my lastâ��Experience Your Smokiesâ�� program with the National Park Service, which was heldright here in Haywood County at the Appalachian Highlands Science Center.� The center isperched high atop Purchase Knob, which if you have never had a chance to experience thisincredible area of the Great Smokies, I highly suggest you add Purchase Knob to your â��DoNot Missâ�� list next time you visit.

This last program was particularly special because we were allowed to bring our family with us toparticipate in the project.� However, I have learned over the years that the only person in myfamily who would voluntarily capture any type of wiggly critters is my Dad.� So early onSaturday, the two of us set out for Purchase Knob and the Appalachian Highlands Science Center ona quest to meet as many salamanders as we could.� Located at 5,000 feet in Haywood County onthe North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Appalachian HighlandsScience Learning Center is part of a network of what will be 32 research learning centerssupporting research and education about science in our national parks.

Tree Cookies

When we arrived, we began our de-biefing andlearned we would be catching salamanders andrecording various points of interest includingweight, size, species, and information about thehabitat we found them in.� It was veryimportant to take accurate notes becuase thisinformation would contribute to a larger study.

The southern Appalachian Mountains, includingthe Great Smokies, are a major center ofevolutionary diversification for the family Plethodontidae, commonly known as the lunglesssalamanders. There are 24 species of lungless salamanders in the park. The family has undergone anextraordinary level of evolutionary diversification in the southern Appalachian Mountains. As theirfamily name implies, these salamanders lack lungs. They �breathe� through the wallsof tiny blood vessels in their skin and linings of their mouths and throats. Lungless salamanders areeverywhere in the Great Smokies, including in and along streams and under rocks, logs, and leaflitter in the forests.

So with that said, we began our hike down the mountain to Ferguson Cabin, where we received amore in-depth briefing of what we would be doing.� Our program group split into 4 smallergroups and headed out to what is referred to as the â��the lower plottâ�� in search ofâ��cookiesâ��.� Up until this Saturday, I was only aware of one kind ofcookiesâ�¦the ones you eat of course!� But in reference to ourprogram,â��cookiesâ�� are round slices of a tree trunks that were strategically placed in aspread out line from a creek into the woods.� The salamanders are drawn to the habitats createdunder the â��cookiesâ��, which makes it easier to find them during a study such as this.

Salamanderat Lower Plott

So our group began its quest for salmanders bycarefully flipping over each cookie and using aziplock baggie to collect our individualsalamanders.� It was critical to thesalamanders health that we not touch thembecause their skin is like a sponge and absorbs anyoutside elements, including anything we may havehad on our hands.� Of the 10 cookies we wereassigend, we unfortunately only caught one

salamander.� The weather that day was unseasonable cold, so most salamanders were burrowedfurther down than normal.� However, the one little guy we caught was identified as a Santeetlahdusky salamander. This species ranges in color from light to dark brown with a light belly, amoderately keeled tail, and â��salt-and-pepperâ�� flecking along the sides.� We took hisweight, measured his size, made notes about the habitat we found him in and then returned him.There are many reasons why the NPS must monitor the salamander population.� Most of thesalamanders in the Smokies breathe through their skin which makes them sensitive to changes inthe environment from threats like acid deposition. Since salamanders are cold-blooded, they mayalso be impacted by rapidly� changing weather conditions in the park, especially in the winterand early spring.

After we finished checking our cookies and recording our findings, we began our hike up a section ofthe Cataloochee Divide Trail which took us back to the research station. This makes for a greatround trip hike that I highly reccommend the next time you visit Purchase Knob.� Once we gotback to the research station we enjoyed a tasty lunch together and celebrated the end of ourExperience Your Smokies program.� Participating in these programs the last couple months hasleft me with a new interest and respect for what the National Park Service does to maintain theGreat Smokies and all the natural wonder that can be found within it.� To actually see behind thescenes and take part in first hand experience has been incredibly rewarding.� I highly encourageanyone who has interest in this to please contact the National Park Service or the Friends of theSmokies organization and inquire about a volunteer program opportunity.� I promise that you

will walk away with lasting memories and a deeper love for the beauty and wonder of our nationalparks.

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