The strange species of salamander can remain motionless for 7 consecutive years

Researchers have discovered a species of salamander that has a very special ability to lie motionless for a long time.

The olm or proteus (Proteus anguinus) is an underwater salamander in the Proteidae family that is a strange creature that makes researchers go from surprise to surprise.

The special salamander in Bosnia and Herzegovina can remain motionless for 7 years.

According to new research in Zoological Journal, the salamander living in caves in Bosnia and Herzegovina stayed in place without moving when it was observed in the same place for 2,569 days.

The study authors tracked a group of European salamanders called olm. This creature only breed every 12.5 years, so they do not have regular mating.

To find out how sedentary olm animals are, researchers tagged and tracked a total of 26 individuals living in the 350-meter-long area of ​​Vruljak 1 cave, between 2010 and 2018. At least. 100 days passed between each inspection, but only in 10 times an olm was found to have moved more than 10 meters with a movement of 20 meters recorded only once.

On average, creatures move about 5 meters in a year, although a super individual has completely changed 38 meters in just 230 days.

Although they do not have eyes, olm have good chemical, magnetic and sound senses, so their lack of motion may be associated with difficulty in orientation.

Olm choose to conserve energy by waiting for small crustaceans to eat near them, rather than chasing them. Sometimes this means they have to wait every year between meals.

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