As a warm-blooded human, your body temperature stays pretty much the same all the time. If you get a little chilly, you can put on a coat or a sweater, and if you get too hot, you can turn up the air conditioner. Amphibians like the tiger salamander are cold-blooded, which means their body temperature changes with their surroundings. In the forests, marshes and grasslands where they live, temperatures can get both very hot and very cold. To help control its body temperature, the tiger salamander burrows itself into the ground where the temperature stays the same.

If your family plants flowers or vegetables, next time ask if you can help dig the holes. Notice that as you get deeper, the soil feels much cooler than the air. You’ll probably also notice that the soil becomes damper. Amphibians like to live in these damp places because they need to keep their skin moist. Even though they may live close to you, about the only time you will see a tiger salamander above ground is in the evening after it rains or if it is time for them to breed. They usually live close to ponds or other small waterways because they lay their eggs underwater. When the eggs hatch into larvae, they continue to live in water until their legs and lungs develop. These changes are called metamorphosis.