The olm is a cave-dwelling salamander from central Europe. It is found in only one small region, spanning underground waters in the Dinaric Alps. Like the axolotl, the olm retains external gills allowing it to breathe underwater.
Instead its invisible eyes, long body, and fleshy skin make it a bit of a nightmare demon! But maybe you like its quirky charm, beauty is in the eye after all. Olms are blind, but sensitive to light.
Its conservation status is vulnerable. The axolotl reaches adulthood without metamorphosis. Instead of land, adults stay aquatic with gills. Originally found in lakes underlying Mexico City, habitat destruction led to population declines.
They seem similar yet are unrelated, occurring on separate continents. The Olm calls Middle Europe home, the Axolotl South America. Generally white to pinkish, dark mutations occur.
Olms eat little, surviving years without food. Vestigial eyes and lack of pigment adapted them to cave life. Cave salamanders eat invertebrates attracted to bat droppings.
How long can an olm live?
Olms can live up to 100 years. Caves lack food. So olms evolved to wait up to 12 years between meals. How?
The olm salamander has the longest lifespan of any amphibian, often living over 70 years, with a predicted maximum age of over 100. Olms have small mouths with tiny teeth that keep larger food particles in their mouths. They feed on insect larvae, small crabs, and snails, swallowed whole. Olms can consume large amounts of food at once and store nutrients in the liver.
They may seem similar, yet olms and axolotls are unrelated and native to two continents. Nicknamed “the human fish” for its fleshy skin and tubular shape, olms are strange. But weirder, they can live 100 years, unlike other amphibians. “This species raises questions regarding aging processes,” write researchers.
Unlike soil clams, deep ocean quahog clams live 200 years. Most quahogs are three to four inches and grey. They are also known as Icelandic cyprine, mahogany clam, black quahog and black clam.
In 2021, average global life expectancy is 72.6 years. The increase from 20-25 years to over 75 years increased the likelihood of living to maximum lifespan.
A 90-year old woman has a 15 percent chance of dying in a year, with six years left. At 95, the annual chance of dying jumps to 24 percent. At 105, it leaps to 50 percent.
For healthy non-smokers, almost one in three women and one in five men will live to 95.
Lacking water, body temperature and cells can’t be regulated. Most last three days without it. Symptoms near end-of-life are drowsiness and tiredness.
Olms live 58 years on average, and some live a century. An olm salamander photographed in a Croatian cave by researcher Dušan Jelic for the PROTEUS project, helping this species in Southeastern Europe.
Prey density is steady in winding caves. So no benefit comes from moving to snatch up crustaceans or snails.
Locals thought young olms were dragon offspring and avoided their caves. But the olm salamander has unique traits. Most famously, they live in Slovenia’s Postojna Cave near the Italian border.
In lean times olms become less active, metabolism slowing. Experiments show olms survive up to 10 years without food! Their maximum lifespan is over 100 years; average is 68.5 years.
Threats are like those to other amphibians: water pollution, overdevelopment, pet trade, dams and garbage dumping. Slovenia considers the olm a national treasure.
Humans can’t imagine sitting still for years. But olms set the record. One stayed put for 2,569 days, about seven years, without eating or moving.
The “baby dragon” is a true endemic of the Dinaric Karst, living only in clean waters of caves from Slovenia to maybe Montenegro. Support olm conservation by adoption. Pollution and destruction threaten this vulnerable species. Adoption helps preserve regional rivers and underground waters.
Not really.
Can you keep olms as pets?
They are threatened/endangered and relatively difficult to keep in captivity. Do olms have predators? An olm can grow up to 16 inches. Some people want to keep olms as pets, but it is illegal to sell cave salamanders as pets. Have some feedback for us? Contact the editorial team. How big is an olm? An olm ranges from 8 to 12 inches long. Thank you for reading!
Can you keep an olm as a pet? @Jawdoss – Since Olms are unattainable legally (and ethically?) as pets, it’s a lucky thing there are a lot of different coloured axolotls. Why are olms going extinct? The olm requires clean water, and is therefore vulnerable to water pollution. Players have a 1/65 chance of receiving the pet when they receive a unique drop after defeating the Great Olm. I wish I could get a stuffed-animal olm! Is olm endangered? Vulnerable (Population decreasing) Olm/Conservation status. What does olm mean? : an elongated European cave-dwelling aquatic salamander with small eyes covered by the skin.
The olm is totally aquatic, eating, sleeping and breeding underwater in the total darkness of cave system. Do olms have eyes? Can you keep a mudpuppy as a pet? Mudpuppies may live 20 years or more. How often do olms eat? Olms have evolved to go long periods without food – in captivity they are fed just three tiny cave shrimps a day, and can survive quite happily for 12 years without eating anything at all. How big do olms get? The olm averages 8–12 inches in length. What is olmlet drop rate? 1/53 The olmlet has one of the highest drop rates for a one-off pet at 1/53. Can you keep an olm as a pet? Not really. They are threatened/endangered and relatively difficult to keep in captivity. It’s like wanting a panda bear – we have to content ourselves with stuffed animals. How do you solo muttadiles? 1:065:18Solo muttadile guide! Everything you need to know! – YouTubeYouTube. Can you entangle muttadile Osrs? Players can use Ice Barrage or Zamorak Godsword’s special attack to stop them from going to the tree.
How long can an olm go without eating?
Olms can survive quite happily for 12 years without eating anything at all. With little to go around of the food olms eat, the salamanders can go 10 years without eating. There are at least 400 olms left in the world. Its conservation status is vulnerable.
The eyes are regressed, they retain a sensitivity to light. Olms have evolved to go long periods without food. In captivity olms are fed just three tiny cave shrimps a day.
Predators of olms include fish, toads, and birds. The olm grows to about 30 cm (12 inches) long and has a normally white (unpigmented) body, red gill plumes, a narrow head, and a blunt snout.
One olm didn’t move for 2,569 days, which is about seven years. Scientists studied the olms that live in caves in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Over ten years, the creatures moved less than 32 feet in total. The salamanders are blind and can live for up to a century underwater in complete darkness. One key to the olms’ ability to lie still for so long is that they have no natural predators.
Scientists aren’t exactly sure how many eggs a single female olm lays throughout her lifetime, though they estimate that it could be hundreds. The origin of olm goes back millions of years. It is a member of the Proteidae family. It is the only member of the genus Proteus.