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‘Baby Dragons’ Hatching In Slovenia: Olm Salamander Eggs Shed Light On These Rare And Mysterious Creatures

By Joanna Jaguar
Published on: 16:05 PST, Jun 2, 2016

The eggs of a rare amphibious salamander, called an Olm, have finally begun hatching after months of observation by scientists in a cave in Slovenia. These “baby dragons,” as they’re known locally, are, of course, not related to actual fire-breathing dragons of folklore, but were given the nickname due to their long, slender, almost dragon-like appearance.

The olm salamander eggs were discovered in Postojna Cave in January, and scientists have been monitoring them ever since, even going so far as to place the eggs in a separate aquarium within the cave, complete with an infrared camera in order to record any hatchings or problems. In all, 64 eggs were laid by a single female olm, but of those, only 23 survived and were deemed viable to potentially hatch, according to the BBC. The others were left unfertilized and decayed, or succumbed to fungal infections in the water.

The scientists monitoring the olm salamander eggs expected at least a partial loss of eggs — in the wild, it is estimated that roughly only two out of every 500 eggs hatch.

The first baby olm hatched on May 30, but those monitoring them missed the birth. Thankfully, because of the infrared camera positioned by the aquarium, it was caught on film — for the first time ever — says Saso Weldt who tends to and studies the olms in Slovenia’s Postojna Cave.

“I was in the cave doing some other biological work. Since we have all the eggs on an IR camera, we saw that one was missing. Then you rewind and suddenly you realize, something has happened.

“[O]ur first baby dragon managed to shoot into life in a single attempt. This is one of the reasons why the infrared camera footage is invaluable both for biologists and the general public; in fact, olm hatching has never been filmed before.”

A second baby olm was found to be wriggling out of its egg on Wednesday, and scientists are hopeful that within a few weeks, all 23 eggs will have produced healthy baby dragons.

Olm Salamanders are native to the subterranean rivers of the Balkans — where dragon folklore is iconic — and due to their near-translucent pink color, long, slender body, four tiny legs, and frilly gills, they were once believed to be the last descendants of the mythical beasts. According to Science Alert, the belief that olm salamanders were baby dragons began in 1689, when Slovenian researcher Janez Vajkard Valvasor discovered the olm while in Postojna Cave. He wrote about the mysterious creatures in his book The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, in which he calls them baby dragons that will one day be washed out to sea, where they would fully mature, and spend their lives in the depths of the oceans, and under the Earth’s crust.

Though the idea that olms were, in fact, infant dragons was dispelled in the 1800s, the legend surrounding the rare creatures has remained, causing Postojna Cave to become quite the tourist attraction. Since the eggs were discovered in January, thousands of tourists have lined up inside the cave, hoping to catch a glimpse of the hatchings.

The olm Salamander can grow up to 13.5 inches long, and are blind. They search for food with an evolved sense of smell and touch, and can survive for a decade without food. A baby olm will take around 15 years to fully mature, and they can live at least 100 years — they were actually once believed to be immortal.

Scientists inside the cave in Slovenia are now hoping that the impending hatching of nearly two dozen olm salamander eggs will help shed some light onto these rare amphibians, and perhaps, even, on their secret of longevity.

[Image via Arne Hodali?/Wikimedia Commons/CC By-SA 3.0]

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