The Cheoah Bald Salamander is a small, secretive amphibian found only in a tiny patch of the southern Appalachian Mountains. This species is super local — meaning it has a very limited range — which makes it both fascinating and vulnerable. If you’re hiking in the high elevations of western North Carolina, you just might be in its only neighborhood on Earth.
This salamander is part of the lungless salamander family, meaning it breathes entirely through its skin. That’s right — no lungs at all. It needs cool, moist environments not just to survive, but to breathe.
Size & Physical Appearance
Cheoah Bald Salamanders are fairly small, usually ranging from 2.5 to 4 inches long including the tail. They have a slender build and a fairly straight, narrow head.
Their coloring can vary, but most adults are a dark gray to black, often with fine brassy or bronze flecks sprinkled across their back. Their undersides tend to be lighter, usually grayish. Juveniles often have brighter spotting compared to adults.
They don’t have any flashy colors or big markings, which helps them stay camouflaged on the forest floor.
Habitat and Range
This is a true mountain specialist. The Cheoah Bald Salamander is endemic to a small area of Graham County, North Carolina, mostly around the Cheoah Bald area — which is where it gets its name.
You’ll only find it at higher elevations, roughly 3,000 to 5,400 feet, where the forest stays cool and damp most of the year. It sticks to moist hardwood forests, particularly places with lots of leaf litter, moss, rocks, and downed logs. That’s its ideal hiding and foraging habitat.
Diet
Like many small woodland salamanders, the Cheoah Bald Salamander eats tiny invertebrates. Its diet includes:
- Small insects
- Springtails
- Spiders
- Mites
- Other soft-bodied arthropods
It’s a nocturnal hunter, coming out at night to forage while avoiding predators and drying out.
Lifespan
In the wild, Plethodon salamanders like this one can live over 10 years, and sometimes up to 15 years. That’s pretty impressive for such a small animal. There’s not much data on this specific species in captivity since it’s rare and not commonly kept.
Identification Tips
Telling the Cheoah Bald Salamander apart from other similar-looking species isn’t easy — even herpetologists sometimes rely on genetics or where the salamander was found.
But there are a few clues:
- It looks very similar to the Southern Appalachian Salamander (Plethodon teyahalee), but tends to be smaller-bodied with finer brassy flecking.
- If you’re hiking in the exact right part of Graham County and spot a small black salamander with brassy specks, there’s a good chance it’s this species.
- Location is key — it has an extremely limited range compared to more widespread lookalikes.
If you’re not an expert, identifying it for certain in the wild might not be possible without lab confirmation. But it’s still fun to know who might be sharing the trail with you!
Fun Fact
The Cheoah Bald Salamander is what scientists call an endemic species, which means it’s found nowhere else in the world. Its entire global population lives on a single stretch of mountain — making it a perfect example of why protecting wild spaces really matters.
In Summary
This small, high-elevation salamander may be easy to miss, but it’s one of the rarest amphibians in the United States. Seeing one is like spotting a hidden gem of the southern Appalachians. Its quiet presence reminds us that there’s so much life tucked away in the damp corners of the forest — much of it still mysterious, and all of it worth protecting.