Hungarian scientists were amazed by the cave salamander, which for 7 years did not change its position. This creature will outlive them all.
Cave salamanders (Proteus anguinus), they are also European proteas, they are olms, which locals call "human fish" (chovechiјa ribitsa), marveling at their pale pink - downright human - skin, the rarest creatures. They are found only in underground lakes in the west of the Balkan Peninsula - in pitch darkness. They don't see white light. From which they have no eyes.
Hungarian scientists led by Gergely Balazs from the Eotvos Lorand University (Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Eötvös Lorand University) undertook to study the way of life of the amphibian hermits. For 8 years they dived into the waters of one of the caves in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which 19 olms live.
From the very beginning, the Hungarians marked the "test subjects" with harmless paint, and then followed their movements. The pale pink creatures moved extremely lazily. Most have moved less than 5 meters in 8 years. And one salamander did not move at all - it was found in the same place where it was left 2569 days ago. Found in the same position. What the newspaper The Independent reported with reference to the Journal of Zoology.
It turns out that the salamander did not change its position for 7 years. Did she move from time to time? What did you eat? There are no answers. Scientists only note that olmes save energy. They even mate once every 12.5 years, so as not to bother once again. And they live for more than 100 years, which is phenomenal for amphibians, to which the creatures belong. Perhaps supernatural laziness is the secret of their longevity?
Blind imitation of cave idlers, forgive the pun, is hardly appropriate: 7 years in one place is, of course, too much. But conserving energy from time to time - even in the dark - can be very beneficial. After all, an overly active life is rarely long. There are very convincing examples of this.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY
