Common Name: Peat Bog Pig
Scientific Name: Ambystoma paleris
Specimen Length: 243mm
Specimen Sex: Male
First Described: AD 2064
Description and Habitat: Having evolved from the Tiger Salamander, Ambystoma paleris differ from other suborder salamandroidea as they no longer live their life emersed in water, but similarly to their cousin the Axolotl they have an external gill system, although theirs have migrated to become dorsal ferns on their back as they are no longer needed to breath air under water, but to absorb large amounts of CO2 disturbed from the surrounding soil.
Originated in the Bog of Allen in Ireland, an ancient peatland that has suffered exploitation for centuries, its ancestors used to eat fish and other small proteus, but it is thought these well-equipped amphibians started the evolution process to ingest CO2 both as a food source and for gaseous exchange when people started disturbing the peat on an industrial scale in the 20th century, and as a result its mouth has evolved shut.
A consistent reduction in rainfall due to climate change at the start of the 21st century caused the Peat Bog Pig to start spending more time under the soil’s surface and now always underground its eyes are reduced to almost useless pinpricks, hidden beneath its tough bristly coat which is very good at disturbing the soil as it moves through it, ingesting the released CO2 as it goes.
Reproduction: A. Paleris only spends time near bodies of water to breed during its mating season, from February to June each year. The female is fertilized by means of a spermatophore, a sperm-containing cap placed by the male in her cloaca where it is stored until needed at the time of oviposition. Eggs are laid on the edges of any available subterranean water mass, and hatch into larvae after 14 days. Tadpole-like, their bodies are dorsoventrally depressed and have elongated spiracular tubes during this stage to allow for breathing in water as their external gill system grows and develops. They are considered sub-adult a few weeks after the development of the limbs, when they will start to leave their aquatic environment for good, but not fully grown until reaching sexual maturity at 18 – 27 months.
Life Span: 15-20 years.
