Amphibians | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/amphibians/RSS feed for AmphibiansenFri, 05 Jun 2026 15:09:20 +0000Scientists Have Been Studying Fire Salamanders for More Than 250 Years. They Just Discovered That the Creatures Glow Under UV Lighthttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-have-been-studying-these-salamanders-for-more-than-250-years-they-just-discovered-the-creatures-glow-under-uv-light-180988900/Fire salamanders—one of Europe's most well-researched amphibians—are biofluorescent, which means they can absorb light from an external source at one wavelength, then re-emit it at anotherFri, 05 Jun 2026 15:09:20 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-have-been-studying-these-salamanders-for-more-than-250-years-they-just-discovered-the-creatures-glow-under-uv-light-180988900/A Snorkeling Biologist Snapped the First-Ever Photo of Newly Hatched California Giant Salamanders in the Wild. Here’s Why That's a Big Dealhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-snorkeling-biologist-snapped-the-first-ever-photos-of-newly-hatched-california-giant-salamanders-in-the-wild-heres-why-thats-a-big-deal-180988619/The discovery provides another key data point about a little-known species for which every observation mattersWed, 29 Apr 2026 17:16:41 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-snorkeling-biologist-snapped-the-first-ever-photos-of-newly-hatched-california-giant-salamanders-in-the-wild-heres-why-thats-a-big-deal-180988619/This Nearly 300-Million-Year-Old Mummified Reptile Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of How We Breathehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-300-million-year-old-mummified-fossil-reveals-the-origins-of-breathing-in-amniotes-180988521/Unusually well-preserved fossils have provided the earliest known evidence of a land vertebrate that could pump air in and out of its chest using muscles between the ribs—the same strategy used by modern mammals, reptiles and birdsMon, 13 Apr 2026 20:06:58 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-300-million-year-old-mummified-fossil-reveals-the-origins-of-breathing-in-amniotes-180988521/