Reptiles and amphibians

Reptiles

There are no turtles in Fundy. The rugged terrain, and the rocky and boggy characteristics of its lakes have prevented their establishment.

Four species of snakes have been found in Fundy National Park. The largest and most common is the eastern garter snake. Up to a metre long, garter snakes feed on small mammals, frogs, young birds and insects.

Green snakes-emerald above and cream-coloured below-grow to about 50 cm long. Like the smaller red-bellied snake, they are most often found in old fields and around rock piles. Both feed mainly on insects. The ring-necked snake is rare. It only grows to 30 cm long, and feeds at nights on insects and salamanders.

There are no poisonous snakes in Fundy National Park.

Amphibians

Spring and early summer nights vibrate with the mating calls of frogs and toads. The earliest performers are the wood frogs and the tiny spring peepers whose forceful whistles echo in shrill massed chorus across the dark ponds. These sounds are soon augmented by the long trills of American toads. Marshy ponds and lakes are the home of leopard and pickerel frogs whose roars and growls mix with the "plunks" of green frogs, and -later in the summer-the bass droning roar of bullfrogs.

Salamanders, the other amphibians in the park are mute. Seven species live in moist places: the yellow-spotted, red-backed and four-toed in mossy glades and inside rotten logs; the dusky, blue-spotted and two-lined under rocks near springs and brooks, and adult newts in ponds and lakes.

Of these seven species, three are considered rare. Four-toed salamanders have not been found anywhere else in New Brunswick, and Fundy is the only Canadian national park known to contain northern dusky salamanders. The third rare salamander is the blue-spotted salamander.