Barred tiger salamander; photo © Greg Sievert (all rights reserved; used by permission).
Official State Amphibian of Kansas
Kansas designated the barred tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium) as the official state amphibian in 1994. All State Amphibians
Barred Tiger Salamander Facts
A large amphibian that can grow to 14 inches, barred tiger salamanders can be found in the wild from southwestern Canada through the western United States to northern Mexico.
Barred tiger salamanders are primarily nocturnal. They are opportunistic feeders eating anything they can catch, including various insects, slugs, and earthworms. Tiger Salamanders inhabit areas near bodies of water, including damp forest areas, pine barrens, and arid plains, where the soil is easily burrowed. Tiger Salamanders are also known to occupy abandoned mammal and invertebrate burrows. They are primarily terrestrial as adults, but their juvenile larval stage is entirely aquatic, having external gills.
