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Discover Nature (Missouri Department of Conservation)

Discover Nature: Salamander Metamorphosis

KBIA | By Kyle Felling
Published August 20, 2019 at 1:42 PM CDT
A spotted salamander rests on a fallen log. Some salamander species are transforming from aquatic larvae to amphibious adults this week in Missouri. Watch for these unique creatures in the woods and near shallow water.

This week along Missouri’s streams, ponds, swamps, wetlands, and ditches, watch for salamanders undergoing a life-changing transformation… 

 

Nearly 50-species and subspecies of salamanders live in Missouri.  With bodies that look like lizards, but skin like frogs, salamanders rely on clean, fresh water for the first stage of their lives as gilled, aquatic larvae. 

 

This week, some salamander species are metamorphosing into adult amphibians that live mostly on land and breathe air.  Like tadpoles become frogs, salamanders transform from swimming juveniles, to four-legged adults that can live on land and in water. 

 

Salamanders eat insects, worms, and slugs, and salamander eggs and juvenile forms provide an important food source for many other animals. 

 

Amphibian populations are declining, and a fifth of our salamanders have been declared Species of Conservation Concern in Missouri. 

 

Protecting our groundwater quality, and sensitive habitats is critical for their survival. 

 

Watch for young salamanders transforming into adults this week in nature, and learn more about how to protect the places they live at missouriconservation.org. 

 

 

Discover Nature is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
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Kyle Felling
Kyle Felling’s work at KBIA spans more than three decades. In 2025, he became KBIA and KMUC's Station Manager. He began volunteering at the station while he was a Political Science student at the University of Missouri. After being hired as a full-time announcer, he served as the long-time local host of NPR’s All Things Considered on KBIA, and was Music Director for a number of years. Starting in 2010, Kyle became KBIA’s Program Director, overseeing on-air programming and operations while training and supervising the station’s on-air staff. During that period, KBIA regularly ranked among the top stations in the Columbia market, and among the most listened to stations in the country. He was instrumental in the launch of KBIA’s sister station, Classical 90.5 FM in 2015, and helped to build it into a strong community resource for classical music. Kyle has also worked as an instructor in the MU School of Journalism, training the next generation of journalists and strategic communicators. In his spare time, he enjoys playing competitive pinball, reading comic books and Joan Didion, watching the Kansas City Chiefs, and listening to Bruce Springsteen and the legendary E Street Band.
See stories by Kyle Felling
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