The first ‘baby dragon’ – blind salamanders which are the only cave-dwelling vertebrates in Europe – can be seen wiggling out of its egg in the video (below).
The significance of the birth is high though, as while the salamander species can live for up to 100 years, they may only reproduce as little as once a decade.
Emerging from its egg earlier this week in the Postojnska caves in Slovenia, experts have been keeping a close eye on the ancient dragons. It has been growing in it’s egg for the last 6 months, under the close guard of its mother, where only a few eggs out of the lot are expected to hatch successfully.
A blind, slow moving animal, they can grow up to 30cm long and have a life expectancy of approximately 100 years. Despite their inability to see, they have developed an extremely well level of sensory organs, which helps them hunt small crabs and insects in the cave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCY_V-honsU
