The study of troglobites, creatures that have settled and evolved in the isolation of caves and never leave their permanent habitat nor see daylight, has become a particular interest in Slovenia. This week, a young dragon-like creature was released into an aquarium in Postojna Cave - the olm.
'We are proud to present three out of the 21 baby olms, the world-famous 'dragon's offspring', which we have kept a close eye on since 2016,' said the Postojna cave.
A team of scientists revealed a new approach in studying the mysterious olm, applying a capture-mark-recapture strategy in an observation tank, working with an Eastern Herzegovinian species for eight years to study their spatial strategy and movement patterns.
Nicknamed the human fish because of its pale skin, the slow-moving, blind aquatic salamander has both lungs and gills. The sensitive lining in their ears gives them the ability to detect vibrations in the water, allowing them to find their prey of shrimp and small aquatic animals. They only have one enemy - daylight which will burn their photosensitive skin upon exposure.
Living up to 100 years old, they are able to slow down their metabolism and live off a single meal for 10 years if food is scarce. A keen sense of taste and smell is what helps them navigate in the dark.
The scientists said, 'we can only speculate that animals feeding on very low food supply, reproducing sporadically and living for a century is very energy cautious and limit their movements to the minimum.'
Slovenian Baby Dragons
In 2016, they successfully hatched 21 'baby dragons,' three of which have gone on display this week in the Slovenian cave. That year, scientists found 50 to 60 'dragon eggs' and were left with 22 viable eggs four months later.
The team was so excited about the rare successful hatch because out of 500 eggs laid every decade, only two hatches. They reported, 'first baby dragon managed to shoot into life in a single attempt. This is one of the reasons why the infrared camera footage is invaluable both for biologists and the general public; in fact, olm hatching has never been filmed before.'
Today, the cave will be restricting visitations to only 30 individuals per day to meet the baby olms. It is only now that cave authorities are announcing 'best kept and most carefully guarded secret,' to ensure the baby dragons' survival. Recently reopening, the cave had been closed for three months due to the coronavirus pandemic and previously welcomed up to 700,000 visitors per year.
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Aquatic Caves
In the recent study by Gergely Balázs and his ecology team, they noted that 'the low reproductive activity of the species together with the reported extreme site fidelity makes this top predator of aquatic cave communities highly vulnerable and a sensitive bio‐indicator of habitat‐changing human activities.'
Looking at the bigger picture, studying the olm's habitat, 'aquatic cave ecosystems, are important for evolutionary ecologists as an overlooked model system and for conservation biologists as a vulnerable and unique habitat, but we also need to improve our understanding of how these unique ecosystems perform ecological services that benefit ecosystems beyond cave systems, including human access to freshwater.'
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