Fauna Of Mexico Part 5

Mexico is about more than hot sand beaches and
fabulous resort vacations. That's obvious, of
course; there are so many things to see and
experience that you'll never be bored. In
between visiting ruins, trying new foods, and
immersing yourself in the local culture, you may
also want to look for a nature hike where you can
spot some of these animals in the wild.

Guadalupe Fur Seal

The Guadalupe fur seal is a conservation
comeback story; once hunted to near extinction
by sealers in the 19th century, the population
recovered from a scant few dozen individuals to
more than 10,000 by 1990. They're found in just
a few spots on the Pacific coast of Mexico,
including their namesake Guadalupe Island. Males
weight 400 pounds and reach about 7 feet in
length; the females are much smaller, at 5 feet
and 110 pounds in adulthood. They're solitary
animals who will form small breeding groups
during the summer months. They feed on squid,
lantern fish, and mackerel, but little else is
known about their habits during the non-breeding
seasons.

Mexican Burrowing Toad

It's not often that you get to meet an
evolutionarily distinct creature, but the
Mexican Burrowing Toad certainly counts! You
wouldn't know from looking at it; this amphibian
grows to be about three inches long, and has
light red spots on its grayish skin. The toad
spends a large part of its life underground
(hence its 'Burrowing' title) and they eat ants
and termites. But the Mexican Burrowing Toad is
the only species within the genus Rhinophrynus,
which is the only genus within the family
Rhinophrynidae. It's been independently evolving
for the past 190 million years. According to the
EDGE conservation group, a polar bear, killer
whale, and kangaroo are more similar to one
another than the Burrowing toad is to any other
amphibian--amazing!

Mountain Stream Salamander

The mountain stream salamander is a small
amphibian, barely larger than 4 inches long. It
has a slender tail and a low fin along its back.
It is a dark purple-black, with light lavender on
its belly and cream coloring on the tips of its
lips, limbs, and tail. Around the Valley of
Mexico, it lives in the region's high-elevation
streams; it needs to be close to this water
source to lay its eggs. As with almost all
amphibians, the mountain stream salamander
starts its life as a water-dwelling larva, and
eventually loses its gills when it reaches
sexual maturity. Due to loss of habitat, the
mountain stream salamander is currently
endangered; it is specially protected under
Mexican national law.


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