What is the laziest creature on Earth? Not a sloth or koala, but this dragon-like species

If we were to nominate the laziest creatures on Earth, many would nominate the sloth, the koala, but compared to these species, the sloth is just a little brother.

Do you remember the widely circulated photo of the dragon appearing in Kunlun?

This picture was created by images of this species. This species is called the salamander, and it looks very much like a dragon. It is considered the laziest creature in the world.

The salamander lives in the caves of the European continent, due to the geographical reasons of the European continent, formed many caves. And in some Slovenian caves, in the bottomless water pools, live a wonderful and rare amphibian – the salamander.

The salamander is the largest cave-dwelling animal, and the only cave-dwelling chordate in Europe. Its body is like a pale pink snake (lifelong juvenile), the salamander's length is less than 30 centimeters, but some individuals can reach a length of 40 centimeters, and its body is white, with small limbs. The salamander is a rare sightless animal, because it lives in the dark caves, so it doesn't need eyes to live, because there are no eyes, its hearing and sense of smell are acute. It can perceive the outside world's movements and disturbances through the depressions around its mouth, and can also detect the faint electrical signals emitted by prey. It can breathe underwater and on land.

It doesn't even have the shape of its eyes

But if they come into contact with sunlight, they will have eyes and brown skin, but the eyes are not complete, the important visual nerves are missing, so although the salamander has eyes, it is still blind, its hearing and sense of smell are still very sensitive.

The salamander has lived on Earth for more than 15 million years, but because of the hidden environment, humans have not discovered its traces. In the 17th century, famous explorer and scholar Johann Weikhard von Valvasor discovered the traces of the salamander. He once thought that this was the young dragon, and it often takes flight when heavy rain comes, and transforms into a giant dragon. So for hundreds of years, the salamander has been a mysterious species.

British and Hungarian scientists conducted long-term observations and research on this special creature in a water cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Herzegovina, at one location. In the latest paper in the 'Journal of Animal Science', researchers confirmed that a salamander spent 7 years in a completely stationary state

In this study, the team marked and tracked 19 salamanders in their natural habitat, some focused on 19 individuals for 28 months, some instances observed for up to 8 years

Among them, the most active individual moved 38 meters in 230 days, most salamanders move about 4.8 meters per year, one individual exhibited extreme stillness, and remained motionless for 7 years

It is understood that salamanders only have the intention to move and feed, when feeding, they use their keen hearing to find small shrimp and snails

And mating, although it can improve the salamander's motivation to move, the cycle is about 12.5 years onceAccording to the available information, in 1958, scientists conducted a salamander research project, they caught a group of about 10-year-old salamanders for observation. Half a century later, these salamanders have not shown any signs of aging. In this study, scientists believed that salamanders could go without eating for 10 years

Why do salamanders form the ability to prolong starvation? Besides humans, all living things are based on survival and reproduction, and for the continuation of the species, many of the evolutionary strategies of living things are to better mate and reproduce. However, some organisms improve their survival rate to ensure the continuity of the species, such as the strategy of starvation

Because it lives in the rock cave, lacks sufficient light and food, if it cannot mate to ensure the continuity of the species, there is no need to mate, so the salamander will slow down its metabolism and restrict its movement, effectively saving energy

Scientists have long noticed a phenomenon, that the lifespan of large animals is often longer than that of small animals. The case of plants is similar, tall plants generally have longer lifespans than short plants. The larger the animal's body, the slower its heartbeat, for example, the elephant's heartbeat is only 26 times per minute, with an average lifespan of 60 years; the blue whale's heartbeat can be as low as 2 times per minute (during diving), with an average lifespan of 80 years; and the old mouse is the same size as the bat, its heartbeat can reach 500 times per minute, and its lifespan is only 3 years

Simply put, the slower the metabolism, the longer the lifespan, and most small animals dissipate heat very quickly, so they need a faster metabolism to maintain their body temperature. But the salamander restricts its movement and feeding to restrict its metabolism, so its lifespan is long. Scientists believe that salamanders can easily live for 100 years. Although its lifespan is long, its reproductive cycle is very slow, which is the result it wants.

Hungarian Roland University's Gergely Balázs said: 'They have a long lifespan and can resist extreme hunger or lack of oxygen. Although they have lost their sight, they still have many developed non-visual systems, which can effectively orient themselves.'

But when you consider that they have no predators, it's easier to understand the 'static' behavior of these salamanders. Although this inertia is beyond other creatures on Earth. But at the same time, this 'static' also affects its reproduction cycle

After the salamander took this strategy, this gene appeared in the subsequent generations. The individuals that can participate in reproduction are those that are 'advantageous' genetically, and the probability of transmitting 'good genes' to offspring is greatly increased. So subsequent salamanders adopted this survival strategy

However, this evolutionary pattern ignored a variable – humans, because a long lifespan and a slow reproductive cycle have made it extremely easy to be affected by the environment

Because the pollution of rivers and the development of the environment threaten the survival environment of the salamander.

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