Salamanders are mysterious, quiet creatures that often stay hidden in cool, damp places. They move slowly, stay close to the ground, and rarely make noise. Because they live in dark forests, under logs, or in murky streams, it’s natural to wonder how they sense the world around them. If they can’t rely much on sight or sound, do salamanders use smell instead?
Yes, salamanders can smell. They have a strong sense of smell that helps them find food, avoid predators, choose mates, and explore their surroundings.
This ability is very important because salamanders often live in places where other senses don’t work as well.
How Salamanders Detect Smell
Salamanders do not rely heavily on sight or hearing. Instead, they use their sense of smell (called olfaction) to detect tiny chemical particles in the air or water.
These particles come from food, predators, other salamanders, and the environment.
Salamanders can pick up scents in two main ways: through their nostrils and through a special organ called the Jacobson’s organ.
Both play a key role in how salamanders understand the world.
Smelling in Water
Many salamanders spend part or all of their lives in water. In these wet places, chemical signals dissolve into the water. Salamanders can detect these dissolved chemicals using sensory cells in their noses.
Water flows into their nostrils, and those sensory cells send signals to the brain. This helps them recognize things like prey, danger, or nearby salamanders.
Even when visibility is low, they can still use scent to navigate and hunt.
Smelling on Land
Terrestrial salamanders, which live mostly on land, detect scent particles in the air or on surfaces.
They don’t flick their tongues like snakes or lizards. Instead, airborne or surface chemicals enter through the nostrils and are processed by special cells in the nasal passage.
This system allows salamanders to smell their way around forest floors, under logs, and through leaf litter, even when it’s too dark to see clearly.
The Role of Jacobson’s Organ
The Jacobson’s organ, also called the vomeronasal organ, is a small chemical-sensing structure found in many amphibians and reptiles. In salamanders, it helps detect pheromones and other important scent signals.
This organ is located on the roof of the mouth and is closely connected to the sense of smell. It processes specific chemical cues, especially those related to mating or social behavior.
Unlike snakes that deliver scents to this organ by flicking their tongues, salamanders mostly detect chemical signals through their nasal pathways.
These signals are then processed in the brain to guide behavior.
Why Smell Is So Important
Salamanders live in environments where seeing and hearing are not very useful. Forest floors, muddy ponds, and underground burrows can be dark, cluttered, and quiet.
In these places, a strong sense of smell becomes their main tool for survival.
Finding Food
Salamanders are hunters. They eat insects, worms, larvae, and other small animals. These prey items often hide or stay still, making them hard to see.
Salamanders use chemical cues to locate prey. Even when the prey is buried under leaves or hiding in the mud, salamanders can detect scent trails left behind. This allows them to find food even in complete darkness.
Avoiding Danger
Predators such as snakes, birds, and fish also leave behind scent markers. Salamanders can detect these warning signs in the soil, air, or water and use the information to avoid being caught.
Some salamanders can even sense chemicals released by predators that are not nearby but have passed through the area. This early warning system helps them stay safe.
Choosing Mates
During breeding season, scent becomes especially important. Salamanders release pheromones, which are special chemicals used to attract mates or mark territories.
Males may leave pheromone trails or release them directly near females. These chemical messages signal readiness to mate, species identity, and even individual health. Females use their sense of smell to choose a mate.
In some species, males even deposit a small sperm packet called a spermatophore and guide the female over it using chemical cues. Without smell, this mating behavior would not work.
Claiming Territory
Salamanders are not very social, but many are territorial. Males especially use scent to mark areas they consider theirs.
By detecting these scent markers, other salamanders can avoid fights by staying away. This chemical communication reduces conflict and keeps individuals safe.
Do Salamanders Smell Humans?
Yes, salamanders can detect human scent. Their sensitive noses pick up the chemical traces we leave behind, especially through touch.
When a person approaches or tries to handle a salamander, the animal may freeze, hide, or try to escape. This reaction is not just fear, it’s a response to unfamiliar or strong chemical signals.
Because their skin is also sensitive, handling a salamander can be stressful for them. Oils, soaps, or lotions on human hands can leave behind chemicals that salamanders can detect.
For this reason, it’s important to avoid touching them unless necessary, and to do so gently with clean, wet hands.
Differences Between Species
All salamanders use their sense of smell, but the way they use it can vary based on where they live and how they move.
Aquatic Salamanders
Salamanders that spend most of their lives in water, such as mudpuppies or sirens, rely mostly on waterborne chemical signals. Their sensory cells are tuned to detect substances dissolved in water.
These salamanders often have external gills and strong underwater navigation skills. Smell plays a large role in helping them find food and avoid predators in low-visibility environments.
Terrestrial Salamanders
Land-dwelling salamanders like the red-backed salamander use scent to find prey, communicate with others, and select shelter.
They may rely more on detecting chemical signals in the air or on the forest floor. Some also use a behavior called “nose-tapping,” where they press their snouts against the ground to gather scent information.
Semi-Aquatic Salamanders
Salamanders that live part of their lives in water and part on land can switch between both methods of detection. Depending on their location, they rely on either airborne or waterborne scents.
Their ability to move between environments and still use smell effectively is one of the reasons they thrive in many habitats.
How Their Smell Compares to Other Animals
Salamanders do not have the same kind of smell as mammals or birds. They don’t rely on strong scents to track things over long distances, like a dog might. Instead, they are highly sensitive to very faint chemical traces in their immediate environment.
Their olfactory system is designed to detect specific, short-range chemical cues related to food, danger, or reproduction.
This makes their smell system very precise, even if it is not broad like in some other animals.
Compared to frogs or toads, salamanders generally rely more on chemical detection. Frogs use sight and sound more often, while salamanders often work quietly and invisibly through smell.
Conclusion
Yes, salamanders have a strong and well-developed sense of smell. This ability helps them find food, avoid predators, communicate with others, and explore the world around them.
They use their noses and Jacobson’s organ to detect tiny chemical signals in water and on land.
In dark, quiet, and hidden places where sight and sound do not help much, smell becomes their most valuable sense.
Every species uses scent in its own way, depending on where it lives and how it moves. Whether they are deep in the forest, underground, or swimming in a stream, salamanders depend on their noses to survive.
Hi, my name is Ezra Mushala, i have been interested animals all my life. I am the main author and editor here at snakeinformer.com.