Sally the Salamander

One of my sisters and I were walking around the neighborhood just because it was a nice-ish day, and we hadn't gotten very far out when as we were walking I saw something raise out of the corner of my eye, near the ground in someone's lawn, so I looked. Turned out it was a north-western salamander. We found out, after researching it and giving it a temporary home in a jar with water, dirt, and vegetation, that they are actually poisonous. They lash out with their tail and poison the foe with the poison on their moist skin! Thank notch, the poison is not deadly to humans or other large animals, but will cause a rash or irritation. It is meant for killing snakes, rodents, and other small animals. As it's hand was pressed against the jar, I could see the sun filtering through it, and I thought, what a great blip. Then we let it out into the forest out back. It was about 6 inches long and was brown like mud. Pretty cool amphibian if you ask me!