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| Photo © Nikos Melanitis 2016 |
Legends have developed around the salamander over the centuries, many related to fire. This connection likely originates from the tendency of many salamanders to dwell inside rotting logs. When placed into a fire, the salamander would attempt to escape from the log, lending to the belief that salamanders were created from flames. The association of the salamander with fire appeared first in Ancient Greece, where Pliny the Elder writes in his Natural History that "A
salamander is so cold that it puts out fire on contact. It vomits from its mouth a milky liquid; if this liquid touches any part of the human body it causes all the hair to fall off, and the skin to change color and break out in a rash".
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander]
