Scientists Discover Rare Salamander Which Has Not Moved For Seven Years

It is quite a feat to remain without food or water for an extended amount of time. However, a rare cave salamander known as an olm could be the new record holder for going several years without eating or moving.

Scientists from Hungary and the United Kingdom found olms living in Bosnia-Herzegovina moved less than 32 feet of a period of a decade.

The salamander was found to have remained dormant for seven years, according to a new study published in the Journal of Zoology.

These creatures can live in complete darkness underwater for up to a hundred years. They do not have any natural predators, and they can go without food for several years.

The salamanders can slow down the metabolism so they can survive from one meal in ten years.

Even when they do eat, their food consists of small shrimps or snails. They are blind, so they find their prey through acute hearing.

They are motivated to move as well when they need to mate, which is every 12.5 years.

For eight years, divers studied these sedentary creatures in their habitat. When collecting data, the divers would catch the salamanders by hand and mark them then replace them in the same spot they had been taken from.

The scientists led by Gergely Balázs from Eotvos Lorand University studied a population of olms that were living in the aquatic caves.

The dive team used a capture-mark-recapture system for keeping tabs on the individual olm's movements.

Dr. Balazs claimed they were handing around doing almost nothing.

According to the paper in the Journal of Zoology, several studies carried out on the species to date are based on lab studies resulting in the loss of ecological data from the natural populations studied within the original habitat.

The authors claimed the aquatic cave systems are significant for the ecologists as an overlooked system and the conservation of biologists as a unique and vulnerable habitat.

It was also mentioned there is a need to improve understanding concerning the manner the ecosystems perform services benefiting the ecosystems apart from the cave systems.

The team claimed the creatures would assist in helping to track the human effect on the case systems. According to the paper, the low reproductive activity of the species and the reported site fidelity makes the salamander species quite vulnerable.