Vila Wolf's Dyslexic Folklorist Ranting

Giant Legless Amphibians

Although they look like enormous earthworms, they aren’t. They are a newly discovered species of legless amphibian, complete with backbone, making them similar to salamanders or frogs. These creatures are part of a group of animals called caecilians. They live out their lives in underground burrows, tending to their slimy pink young, which emerge from their eggs as miniature adults.

The discovery of new vertebrates is rare, especially outside of tropical rain forests, but the new caecilians come mostly from human-inhabited areas in northeastern India. They’ve escaped notice for so long because these burrowers spend their lives underground, out of sight of human eyes.