In nature, the continuation of life is always full of wonder and wonder. Today, we're going to talk about a cute amphibian – the salamander. The salamander is a small amphibian, generally between 10-15 cm in length when it reaches adulthood, but the specific size depends on the species, living environment and other factors. For example, the Oriental salamander is smaller, generally 6-8 cm long, while the Chinese giant salamander is larger, and its body length can reach more than 1 meter. So, do you know how old salamanders are to start breeding?
First of all, we need to understand that axolotls are oviparous animals, and they need to reach sexual maturity before they can reproduce. This age of "sexual maturity" is generally around 1 year old for wild salamanders. Artificially bred salamanders are similar, and they can basically be reproduced after 1 year of breeding. This is because at this age, the salamander's physical development is almost complete and can begin to take on the task of reproducing offspring.
Specifically, however, the maturity time of different axolotl individuals is also different. Some salamanders may be precocious, reaching sexual maturity and reproducing in about 10 monthsWhile others may take more than a year to reach this state. This is mainly related to factors such as the species of salamanders, living environment, etc.
So, what is the reproductive cycle of salamanders?After reaching sexual maturity, salamanders reproduce once a year. When seeking mates, the male often swims around the newt, sometimes touching the anus of the female, sometimes in front of the head, bending his head to look at the newt, and at the same time bending his tail forward and shaking rapidly, and so on many times, sometimes for several hours. When the male newt discharges the milky white sperm bag (or sperm mass) and sinks to the bottom of the water to adhere to the attachment, the female newt follows the male newt closely, just so that the cloaca hole touches the tip of the sperm bulk, and slowly incorporates the sperm of the sperm pack into the cloaca. The spermatocapsule remains on the attachment. The female newt is very active after sperm acceptance, and the tail is raised at 40 60° with the body, and it gradually returns to normal after about 1 hour. The female newt receives sperm one or several times and can produce fertilized eggs several times until the end of the egg-laying season.
During egg laying, the female swims to the surface of the water and folds the aquatic plants or leaves on the cloaca with her hind limbs to lay her eggs in between. Each spawn is mostly 1 egg, swim to the bottom of the water after laying, stop for a while and then swim to the surface to continue spawningGenerally, 3 4 capsules are produced per day, and the most are 27 capsules, with an average annual output of more than 220 capsules, up to 668 capsules. It is generally incubated after 15-25 days. The embryo to be hatched has 3 pairs of pinnate outer gills and 1 pair of elongated balanced branches.
Hopefully, through this article, you will have a deeper understanding of the reproductive age and cycle of salamanders. If you have more questions about salamanders, at the same time, I hope you can share this article with more friends, so that we can care for nature and protect every life together.