Fire salamanders live in central Europe forests and are more common in hilly areas. They prefer deciduous forests since they like to hide in fallen leaves and around mossy tree trunks. They need small brooks or ponds with clean water in their habitat for the development of the larvae.

Do fire salamanders live in fire?

European fire salamanders have fiery orange or yellow markings on their black skin. In ancient times, people wrongly believed that they were born in fires. Maybe that's because fire salamanders often hide under logs, and when people gathered those logs to build a fire, salamanders ran out of the flames.

Are fire salamanders rare?

The fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is a common species of salamander found in Europe. It is black with yellow spots or stripes to a varying degree; some specimens can be nearly completely black while on others the yellow is dominant.