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Good morning and welcome to Kid News. I'm Kim. Today is Thursday, March 13th, 2025.

And we begin with the spotted salamander stealing the spotlight from Punksitani Phil.

According to the Washington Post, the smooth-skinned, purplish gray lizard

with bright yellow dots has been predicting the start of spring correctly for millions of

years with its migration. This adorable animal most people never see spends almost its entire life

underground, only coming out at night to feed. That changes on the first warm rain of spring,

when spotted salamanders emerge in mass to migrate toward temporary ponds that dry up in summer.

Usually that happens in late February, but this year, because of a cold winter, it was this past week.

According to amphibian expert Brian Gratwick, a scientist with the Smithsonian,

it's just a wild party during the few days the salamanders slither out of hiding. Like many other

animals, he says, amphibians are threatened due to climate change, but there's a way you can help.

In your backyard, you can go with a shovel and dig a hole,

and suddenly you've got an amphibian factory. They'll find it and they'll breed in it.

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