Baby ‘dragons’ hatch inside cave in Slovenia
It sounds like something straight out of a fantasy novel, but a baby dragon has been born in a prehistoric cave in Slovenia.
The creature was one of 23 developed eggs laid by a species called the blind salamander, once believed to be related to the legendary scaled beasts. Technically known as ‘olms’, these pale and completely blind creatures live up to the age of 100 and only reproduce every five to 10 years.
The eggs first appeared about six months ago in Postojna Cave in Slovenia, and their hatching was live streamed around the world online thanks to an infrared camera.
Saso Weldt, who studies the olms at the cave, says he and his team only realised the eggs were hatching after noticing one was missing. “I was in the cave doing some other biological work,” he told BBC News. “Since we have all the eggs on an IR camera, we saw that one was missing. Then you rewind and suddenly you realise, something has happened.”
“In the cave, in nature, they hatch all the time - but nobody here has ever seen a hatchling younger than about two years,” Weldt adds.
It is hoped that all 23 hatchlings will grow into adults, but given that the species is so rare, the cave staff cannot be sure. “Although they may not breathe fire, this will be the right time for the fireworks!” they told IFLScience.
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