Age: May live for 12-15 years.

Range: Southern New York south to Northern Florida, and west to Minnesota and Eastern Texas. Absent from Appalachian uplands and Mississippi Delta region.

Food: Tiger salamanders consume many kinds of invertebrates and small vertebrates.

Life Style: A fossorial species living for the most part underground, belonging to a group known as the mole salamanders.

Reproduction: Emerges from its burrow in late winter or early spring on rainy nights to migrate to the breeding ponds. Females deposit one or more egg masses containing approximately 25-50 eggs per mass, these are attached to underwater twigs and weed stems. Hatching occurs in 4-5 weeks and the larvae remain in the ponds until late July or early August. After this time, the larvae metamorphose into sub-adults and leave the ponds on rainy nights to begin their fossorial existence. In 4-5 years the sub-adults reach sexual maturity.

Formerly the Tiger Salamander was reported as occurring as far north as Albany in New York State. Currently it is found only on Long Island, from the central Pine Barrens east to the South Fork. Loss of habitat has been responsible for the disappearance of this species from the western part of the island. The remaining habitat needs protection from development, and the essential breeding ponds must be kept free of contamination and the introduction of fish. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation lists the Eastern Tiger Salamander as endangered.