It was touch and go for a while. But the elusive pink aquatic salamanders that hatched inside Slovenia’s Postojna Cave about four months ago have survived the most difficult stage of their lives, reaching adolescence.
“This is the first time that the general public has the opportunity to see and follow the development of a creature that lives a really hidden life, in the darkness,” says team member Sašo Weldt at Postojna Cave in south-western Slovenia.
They were once only known from specimens washed out of caves by flooding and legend had it they were baby dragons – the name that stuck.
The olm (Proteus anguinus), or baby dragon, can live to be 100 years old and only lays eggs once or twice a decade. Little is known about their development and their small numbers and polluted underground habitat make them a vulnerable species.