Digital Journal readers may be familiar with the Postojna Caves from a previous story posted last year in August, describing the country’s national treasure and World Heritage site.
Also described in the Digital Journal story was the amazing number of animal species, with 99 different species being full-time residents and occasionally, when the populations rise, 150 species being found deep within the caverns.
But all eyes are on the star attraction, the olm, or proteus (Proteus anguinus), a salamander that is the only cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe. A female olm has laid a batch of about 60 eggs in a special underground aquarium, and three of the eggs are showing signs of growth, reports the BBC.
Unlike amphibians, the proteus is entirely aquatic. It eats, sleeps, breathes and reproduces underwater. With their long snake-like bodies, stubby legs and bright red gills, the New York Times says people of the 15th century could easily believe they were the offspring of dragons, or as they later were called, “human fish.”
Saso Weldt, a biologist working at the cave, told the BBC no one really knows how many of the eggs will hatch or precisely how long it will take. The proteus is thought to live up to 100 years, and can go without eating for as long as 14 years.
The olm doesn’t reach sexual maturity until the age of about 15 years, and then they only produce once every six years. The last time a female laid eggs, none of them hatched and they were eaten by other olms in the aquarium. “Right now it looks like three are good candidates,” said Weldt.
“It is rare and it is exciting,” Mr. Weldt said of this opportunity for a do-over. “I was jumping when I saw the first one and the second one. It’s something you don’t want to miss when working as a biologist in a cave.” Weldt added, “She started laying eggs on 30 January. She is still laying one or two eggs per day, and they need something like 120 days till they hatch.”
The staff have taken precautionary mesures to ensure the eggs have every chance to fully develop. They have removed all the other creatures from the special aquarium but the mother olm, and have been using very long-exposure photographs in the darkened cave to catch a glimpse of the tiny embryos as they are developing.
The scientists have added extra oxygen to the area of the cave where the aquarium is located and are protecting the eggs from light because olms are very vulnerable to changes in water quality and temperature. Newser reports that Weldt says, “Now it’s up to them. We are hoping that in a couple of months we can state that we have baby dragons.” And as soon as a baby dragon is born, Digital Journal will let readers know of the birth.
