Growing up in Deepstep, GA, on the banks of delightful Deepstep Creek, I became familiar with ”Ground Puppies”—that’s what we called them. It was years later, that I heard they are also called salamanders. We often disturbed the marshy edges of the creek and surrounding muddy leafy ground looking for the little buggers… as if by magic, we found the little slimy, wiggly, brown, ground puppies. Sometimes we did so simply to see if we could find one.
Usually, we searched for them because they were excellent fish bait—and often easier than trying to “grunt” worms—a common method of coaxing earthworms out of the ground. We used an abandoned hoe handle or other sturdy stick; poked it into the dirt six or more inches deep and wiggled it vigorously. Disturbing the ground brought all the worms we needed to the surface.
But I digress; In due time, I learned that ground puppies, these delicate little creatures are Salamanders (sometimes called Mud Puppies) —and there are tons of varieties (well, not really tons—but you get the point). The Salamander contributes significantly to our ecosystem. Our lives are made better because they exist. Among other things they eat pests like mosquitoes, and salamanders“… help keep our forests and aquatic systems along with the benefits those ecosystems provide for the American people,” according to Jason Goldberg, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist.
Salamanders are amphibians, with unusual qualities; their limbs extend horizontally from their bodies. If they lose a limb, or a part of their body is damaged, they can regenerate the wounded—or lost limb—and rehabilitate it to its former full function. Medical researchers are attempting to discover this remarkable faculty, in hopes of incorporating it into human healing.
Unfortunately, there is a more dire threat to Salamanders than my friends and I posed on the banks of Deepstep Creek. Salamanders are threatened by the Bsal fungus which originated in Asia or Europe. Too often foreign pests, diseases and harmful entities are imported. Because such intrusions happen too often, we tend to take a laissez-faire approach allowing some threats to our ecosystem get a hold.
In 2016, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife service issued a rule curtailing their interstate transportation. This rule prohibits the importation or interstate transport of the listed species and samples derived from them unless a permit is issued. By understanding the threat of the Bsal Fungus before its arrival, gives Fish and Wildlife managers a head start on limiting if not preventing its incursion.
Kitty Kalen’s song “Little Things Mean a Lot,” although written as a romantic message, reminds me of Ground Puppies and Jesus. “Give me your arm as we cross the street / Call me at six on the dot / A line a day when you’re far away / Little things mean a lot.” Ground Puppies, tiny as they are, matter a lot to a couple of little boys headed off to the old fishing hole. As for Jesus, i think old Blind Bartimaeus, sitting on the Jericho Road; then Jesus comes along and turns his full attention to this lonely, overlooked man. It was a little thing but look what a difference it made!
©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2023
Praises!!!