Proteus anguinus is an amphibian that resembles a dragon in Chinese mythology, and some believe it is a descendant or juvenile of a dragon.
The cave newt is about 30 centimeters long, it has limbs but no claws, a flattened tail, and three pairs of gills on its head, which are the organs it uses to breathe in the water. It has no pigment and is pink or white in color, because it lives in dark underground caverns all year round, its eyes have degenerated into two small black dots, and it has almost lost its vision, but it has the ability to perceive light. It feeds on its keen sense of hearing and smell, and its food is small shrimp and insects that live with it in burrows, as well as bat droppings that have been washed into burrows by torrential rains. Its living environment is very harsh, food is scarce, so its metabolism is very low, can be eaten once, standby for 7 years without moving, more than ten years to mate once, not only to save energy, but also to prevent overbreeding caused by the squeeze of living space and bring extinction. With a lifespan of 70 or even 100 years, the newt is the longest-lived of any amphibian.
The newt's reproductive capacity is very low, its sexual maturity is very late, it takes 10 years for females and 15 years for males, its mating cycle is very long, mating only once in an average of 12 years, and only a few dozen eggs are laid after mating, and only a few eggs hatch into larvae. The newt does not go through the process of larval to adult, and its outer gills and tail remain until adulthood, a phenomenon known as "permanent juvenile".
The newt is a geographically narrow species that is found only in the underground water flow of limestone caves in the Dinari Alps in Europe, mainly in countries such as Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. The cave newt is the only burrowing chordate in Europe and one of the rarest amphibians in the world, so it is listed as an endangered species and is strictly protected. The distribution area and habitat of the newt are affected by human activities, such as water pollution, water level drop, cave tourism, etc., which pose a threat to the survival of the newt.
Dragons