Dragons may not be real but they’ve have captured humanity’s imagination for generations. Almost any person would be excited to see a real-life dragon but sadly they can only be encountered in fiction. What if we told you that there’s a rare creature that comes close to these mythical creatures? Meet the olm, a tiny dragon-like creature that lives in caves deep underground.
An olm or proteus anguinus is an aquatic salamander that can be seen exclusively in the caves of Europe. It’s especially found in the Dinaric Alps, mountain ranges which stretch from Italy to Slovenia. According to Edge of Existence.org, the olm can survive without food for up to 10 years and can live up to a hundred years. The creature is a part of an ancient lineage of amphibians evolving independently for 190 million years. This rare species is currently under threat caused by pollution and habitat disturbance.
Southern Slovenia’s Soča River basin is where these strange creatures can be found. Locals have nicknamed them “human fish” because their skin looks more like a human’s than an amphibian’s. An olm can grow up to 25 – 35 centimeters long. One of their most noticeable features is their gills, which can be seen sticking out of their head. These tiny salamanders spend their whole lives underwater thanks to their gills.
All olms are albino creatures. They sport no pigments because their subterranean habitat has no light coming from the outside. These unusual creatures are also mute and blind, again, due to their dark underground environment. They find their way around the dark using so-called electroreceptors. These allow them to detect the electric fields emitted by other animals. With their long body and tiny arms and legs, they look just like baby dragons!
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