Life and Death at a Mountain Lake

Master Naturalist roving correspondent - Becky Swearingen)

Every visit I make to Rocky Mountain National Park includes several visit to Lily Lake. This high mountain lake (8931 feet)  has a trail around it that is slightly less than a mile long. Something interesting happens almost every time I visit it. I’ve seen moose, elk, long-tailed weasels, snakes and numerous species of ducks and birds. 

One interesting aspect of this lake is that there is a population of Western Tiger Salamanders (aka Barred Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium) that live there.  The interesting thing about these salamanders is that they stay in the paedomorphic stage for their entire lives. That means that they stay in the water and have external gills. 

As with many of the park's fauna, they are being impacted by climate change.  One study done in Yellowstone suggests that as we  get higher temperatures it will cause a rise in the temperature of these high-altitude lakes which will cause the paedomorphic salamander to mature into fully adult Tiger Salamanders and that we may begin to see these adults out of the water in the future years.

For now, though, I always look for these fairly large creatures (up to 14 inches) in the water. Last summer, I got more than I expected when walking the trails. At the water’s edge was a Common Garter Snake that was attempting to swallow a paedomorphic Tiger Salamander. I watched for about 10 minutes and from what I could see no progress was being made swallowing it.  You can see the video at this link.

Above is a picture of a Red Speckled Dun.  While the Tiger Salamander is known for being a voracious predator, it was interesting to see that it is not without its own predator.

"OK,, now what??

Meanwhile this Garter Snake is left deciding what to do next.  Give up or risk a bad case of constipation!