Madison's ongoing work with the salamanders, which is an attempt to decode the secrets of their heretofore unexplored and cryptic life cycle, is facilitated by the existence of a relatively stable population of spotted salamanders in the campus Nature Preserve. Each spring, the salamanders migrate from the woods, where they winter in small mammal burrows and tunnels, to a breeding place like Harpur Pond or the recent man-made pond at Nuthatch Hollow Nature Preserve. Without the ramps, many salamanders, which have a possible life expectancy of about 18 years, would drop from the curb into the road where, trapped, most would die of dehydration in the morning sun. In the past three years, Madison, who admits to being one of the few skilled amphibian surgeons in the world, has installed radio transmitters about the size of a pencil eraser in about 40 spotted salamanders that were then released back into the wild. Therefore, operating on salamanders, which have skin the texture of tissue paper and require complete and careful closure of wounds, is a delicate undertaking that requires meticulous attention to detail, Madison said.
Amphibian surgery is probably equivalent to eye surgery.
The salamanders, nevertheless, seem to quickly recuperate from surgery done right, he added. Among the interesting facts Madison has discovered during his studies of the University's spotted salamander population is that older salamanders seem to abdicate the best feeding and breeding grounds to younger generations, risking their own lives in the process. At their most active, spotted salamanders can only travel about 100 yards in a night, and this kind of activity generally only occurs during their migration to and from the pond. From June to August and throughout the winter months, the sala manders usually find a safe haven and shut down almost completely. These treks, then, make them highly susceptible to predation and consume considerable energy for no immediate gain to the individual.