Banff National Park has one reptile, the western terrestrial garter snake. Most are found on the slopes of Sulphur Mountain, thanks to the several thermal springs keeping the ground warm. And Banff has four amphibians; boreal toad, columbia spotted frog (I still have not seen one), wood frog and the long-toed salamander. The salamander in the pictures was trying to cross the road to get to the water. For the last number of years, there have been signs placed on the Bow Valley Parkway, asking visitors to slow down from 60 km/h to 30 km/h for a few hundred meters. Below the road is the wetland and above the road is where the salamanders go to hibernate during the winter. Surviving on energy stored in their skin and their tail over the cold months. Already a vehicle had whizzed by, doing more than the normal speed limit as the salamander was about to go over this human path. I parked at the nearby pull-off and decided this little one was going to get across. Already I could see what looked to be the outline of one who did not survive the tire that went over it. And another that was just starting its journey on the road when it met a bike tire from the looks of it.
But this little friend was moving well, no thoughts about stopping until it was in the grass. Any incoming vehicles were easily going to see me, even if they were not going to stop for a salamander. The sight of a person with a camera in hand on the side of the road. Well, that’s a clear sign that there is wildlife in the area. The salamander made it across and rested in the grass before going down the slope to the water. Long before the road was built, this salamander’s ancestors were making the same journey, minus the asphalt. This and many other salamanders today have the same instinct to go up the slope to survive the winter under dead vegetation and back down without getting eaten by predators in the spring. Even if the road is empty, they still deal with hotter than normal temperatures on the road and are easily spotted by birds. Slowing down to 30 km/h or more is a very small price to pay for this small species.
