Despite being fairly large and having an extremely broad range, the spotted salamander is actually pretty hard to, well, spot.
They can reach 9 inches in length and are prevalent in mature deciduous forests from eastern Canada throughout the eastern and midwestern United States. But these secretive salamanders spend almost their entire lives hidden under rocks or logs or in the burrows of other forest animals.
They will populate upland forests and mountainous regions, but are most common in moist, low-lying forests near floodplains.
They emerge from their subterranean hiding spots only at night to feed and during spring mating. They will actually travel long distances over land after a heavy rain to mate and lay their eggs in vernal pools and ponds.
Visually
