Salamanders and newts are members of the order Urodela, also known as Caudata, and are amphibians with a lizard-like appearance. These animals are diverse and occupy a wide range of habitats. To thrive in these habitats, they must perform behaviors that enable them to avoid predators, feed, and reproduce – which can be a challenging feat. Intelligence may have some influence on how well salamanders can adapt and problem-solve within their environment – this article explores some of the research into salamander intelligence.
Social Intelligence
Most salamander species do not provide parental care, eliminating the possibility of the young learning from their mother, but juveniles have been shown to learn from the actions of their conspecifics. For example, they may gravitate toward a prey stimulus if they observe another individual moving toward it. This is an example of social learning and may be indicative of greater intelligence in the salamander.
Social facilitation can also take place in salamanders – this is where individuals start to copy the behavior shown by others. For example, larval-ringed salamanders (Ambystoma annulatum) copy a decrease in activity in their conspecifics, an effective antipredator strategy. This may be indicative of intelligence in this species as it requires them to perceive and respond to changes in their environment.
Migratory Journeys
Many salamander species undergo migratory journeys, usually to access suitable habitats for breeding and laying eggs. Individuals will often return to the same site year after year, which requires considerable homing ability. Some species, such as the red-cheeked salamander (Plethodon jordani), can home across distances of up to 5 miles (8 km).
Migratory journeys often coincide with particular weather conditions such as increased precipitation or higher temperatures. Salamanders must be able to detect these environmental changes and respond to them accordingly. Tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum) have also been shown to be able to use features in their environment to navigate.
Another study using Ozark zigzag salamanders, Plethodon angusticlavius, suggests that individuals can utilize landmarks in their navigation – although this research was done in an artificial environment so may not actually translate to real life.
Problem-Solving
Research using male tiger salamanders found that individuals could be trained to turn toward a visual cue in a simple maze, however when tested further by reversing the position of the cue, it was found that the salamanders had only learned the turning behavior and were not paying attention to the visual environment. This suggests that their intelligence and problem-solving skills in situations such as this may be limited.
When it comes to prey, however, salamanders are surprisingly discerning. A study in which different visual stimuli imitating prey were tested found that salamanders paid attention to the size and speed at which the stimuli moved, and were less attentive to shape and motion patterns. Whether the ability to distinguish these visual characteristics is indicative of increased intelligence remains open to debate.
Salamanders possess some concept of numerosity; they have been found to select containers containing three flies over those containing two. However, there is a limit to this, with salamanders only selecting the larger number of up to three flies – they were not successful with four flies or more.
Conclusions – Are Salamanders & Newts Smart?
The definition of intelligence is subjective and depends on a great many factors. Although salamanders can perform some impressive feats, such as correctly identifying higher volumes of food and learning to navigate simple mazes, they show very little flexibility in their behavior. This would suggest that salamanders are responding to learned routines and tasks, rather than processing the environment in front of them. Therefore, salamanders may not be especially smart, but this does not mean that they are incapable of learning – the two are not mutually exclusive.
