A tiger salamander wanders his new landscape at the Detroit Zoo. There are more than 4,000 species of them. All are vertebrates, but beyond that, they are an amazingly diverse group, with some even living beneath the desert floor for up to a year at a time.
Salamanders are generally smooth-skinned and have no scales.
Caecilians are the least-known. Long and worm-like, they were a relative mystery to scientists until recently. They are found almost solely in the tropical regions of Africa, South America and Asia. A group of women on lunch break Tuesday from their Royal Oak office thought it had to do with saving whales. Such is the plight of amphibians.