Olm: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the olm lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Proteus anguinus
Group	Salamanders, newts & caecilians
Status	Vulnerable (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	1 country
Continents	Europe
Class	Amphibian
Order	Caudata
Family	Proteidae

Where does the olm live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the olm in 1 country or territory across Europe.

Slovenia

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the olm endangered?

The olm’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Vulnerable” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the olm?

The olm (Proteus anguinus) is an amphibian in the order Caudata and the family Proteidae, genus Proteus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the olm

Olms (German: [ɔlm] ) are the nine species in the genus Proteus. They are aquatic salamanders, and the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate genus found in Europe. The genus is assigned to the family Proteidae, along with Necturus. In contrast to most amphibians, this genus is entirely aquatic; eating, sleeping, and breeding underwater. Living in caves found in the Dinaric Alps, the genus is endemic to the waters that flow underground through the extensive limestone bedrock of the karst of Central and Southeastern Europe in the basin of the Soča River (Italian: Isonzo) near Trieste, Italy, southern Slovenia, southwestern Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Introduced populations are found near Vicenza, Italy, and Kranj, Slovenia. It was first mentioned in 1689 by the local naturalist Valvasor in his Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, who reported that, after heavy rains, the olms were washed up from the underground waters and were believed by local people to be a cave dragon's offspring.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Olm (revision 1380884671), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q15856 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).