Was hiking yesterday and damn near stepped on this Giant Salamander..the thing was between 9.5 10.5 inches long and prolly was 2.25 inches across at the shoulder...didn't get a girth

Has anyone ever seen one this size around west wa ? When I first glanced at it, my first thought was a big lizard..but quickly could see it's moist skin ( dark brown ) I took a picture on my cell phone that came out pretty good..just got to figure how to get it on here. No I wasan't eating any shrooms on the hike.

This Salamander was found around 1600' elevation in a muddy area..curious to hear if anyone has found one this size and knows what it's called? Been here for 47 years and never seen one like it.

Pacific Giant Salamander...


Cool, huh?


The one I saw was in the Cougar/Tiger Mt. area...

Just once, many years ago...it was just ambling down a wet trail up on the lower Skykomish...it was probably nine or ten inches long.

Fish on...

Todd

Speaking of banana slugs... seasons greetings to you to Hank

Damn, Hankster. Me likey.

Anyway, the Giant Pacific Salamander is very high on my "want to see" list. I've been fascinated by them ever since I learned of their extistence... same for the wily "Mountain Beaver" (<--- no, NOT a joke).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_giant_salamander

That's where I saw this one..Cooger mtn.

A couple of nights ago Animal Planet ran a show called "Almighty Amphibians".

It featured some large American salamanders... like the Mud Puppy and the Hellbender that grew to about 20" in length.

Then they showed a Japanese Giant Salamander that was 5 FEET long and weighed about 55 lbs. It kept trying to bite the scientists that were measuring it.

I've seen the Giant Pacific Salamander before in both Spada lake and Lake Isabel. They were about 10" long.

We saw a Mountain Beaver at my cousins house in 1968..Cougar Mtn. We watched it for several minutes. I was only 7 so I don't remember any details.

This summer, up in Alaska,I saw what I now believe to be a wolverine. My initial thought was that it was a mountain beaver mainly because we'd been joking about them the whole time. I was about to trot off into the bush to do my business when I saw the wolverine retreat to the same spot I was heading. I'd hate to imagine how the "worst case scenario" of that circumstance would have played out. Needless to say, I chose a different location.

Davey Richmond, who lives on the upper Hoh, once "trapped" (ie: killed) over 100 mountain beavers in one season...


(Shhh... be berry berry quiet... )



I once saw a mountain beaver running backwards across a road. Seriously.

Shouldn't this be posted on the Amanita thread?



Fish on...

Todd

I was driving in Montana years ago and saw what I think was a Wolverine in a field? I didn't get a good look since I was driving and it was quite a distance away..this has always bugged me, not knowing for sure if it was a Wolverine. I'm about 80% sure it was.

These things happen

I did see a badger on the Klickitat...he was rooting in a stump right on the trail, and me and the pooch did a 180 and headed the other way. We saw a wolverine in Minnesota, too, at a roadside diner, hanging in the parking lot...gave him a wide berth, too.

Fish on...

Todd

badgers? we don't need no stinking badgers!!!

What I saw was alot taller than a Badger and 40-50 % bigger. Are there many Wolverine in northern Montana ?

I know of one confirmed Badger sighting on the Umpqua. Todd was there, so I know it to be true.

As far as mountain beavers go.

If your confusing a wolverine or badger with a Mtn beaver, you have just spotted a cat and thought it was a badger.

Now you know.

Spent a couple of summers trapping Mtn beavers. And I have also slept in a dive motel once.

That makes me an expert.

Considering a mountain beaver is about the size of a wolverine's head, or only about 1/5 the size of a badger, that'd be tough to confuse.

Aren't mountain beavers something like less than a foot and a half long and weigh like three pounds?

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. That Umpqua badger still gives me nightmares.

No giant salamanders over here, but i'm not surprised about Todd seeing a badger along the Klick. However, I was surprised to see a badger cross US97 on my way to work one morning this summer. It was maybe a half-hour after first light, by the viewpoint south of town (Goldendale). I've seen them in the local area before, but never anywhere with that much human activity.

Yeah their pretty small..the one we saw was eating bark off small alder trees.

I have a lot of mountain beavers on my property. Almost never see one. Years ago I had some bulldozing done and they scraped the roof on of one's burrow. My dog grabbed it and it bit the dog clear through his lip. The poor dog made it about three laps around the orchard before he was able shake it off.