Strap on your birthday hats and break out the cake and candles,
because a new ‘dragon’ just hatched inside Postojna Cave in southwestern
Slovenia!
No, they’re not real dragons (we wish fire-breathing dragons were
real just as much as you do) - they’re actually a species of blind,
aquatic salamander called olms, which are nicknamed dragons because of their long, slender bodies.
But even if they aren’t the dragons from your favourite lore,
these hatchlings are a huge deal, because olms only lay eggs once or
twice a decade, despite their 100-year lifespans.
Xylaria polymorpha, commonly known as Dead Man’s Fingers is a type of saprobic fungus that can be found growing in wooded areas. In the 1800s, a large cemetery was closed down due to church-goers believing the fungus was a pair of human hands, attempting to clamber out of a grave.
