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Spotted Salamander1
| Despite being fairly large and having an extremely broad range, the spotted salamander is actually pretty hard to, well, spot2. They can reach 9 inches (23 centimeters) in length and are prevalent3 in mature deciduous4 forests from eastern Canada throughout the eastern and midwestern United States. But these secretive salamanders spend almost their entire lives hidden under rocks or logs or in the burrows5 of other forest animals. They will populate upland6 forests and mountainous7 regions, but are most common in moist, low-lying8 forests near floodplains. They emerge from their subterranean9 hiding spots only at night to feed and during spring mating. They will actually travel long distances over land after a heavy rain to mate and lay their eggs in vernal10 pools and ponds. Visually striking11, these stout12 salamanders are bluish13-black with two irregular rows of yellow or orange spots extending from head to tail. Like many other salamanders, they secrete14 a noxious15, milky toxin16 from glands17 on their backs and tails to dissuade18 predators. Their diet includes insects, worms, slugs19, spiders, and millipedes. Spotted salamanders' numbers are generally stable throughout their range, but they are very sensitive to changes in their ecology, and rising water acidity20 in certain habitats is negatively affecting their population. The pet trade and habitat loss also take a toll21.  |
1 spotted salamander: 斑點蠑螈 2 spot: 識別 3 prevalent: 流行的、廣布的 4 deciduous: 落葉 5 burrows: 洞穴 6 upland: 高地 7 mountainous: 多山的 8 low-lying: 窪 9 subterranean: 地下的 10 vernal: 春天的 11 striking: 引人注目的 12 stout: 豐滿的、肥碩的 13 bluish: 偏藍的 14 secrete: 分泌 15 noxious: 有毒的 16 toxin: 毒素 17 gland: 腺體 18 dissuade: 阻止 19 slug: 小毛蟲 20 acidity: 酸度 21 take a toll: 對某樣東西收費 |
resouse link: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/spotted-salamander/
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