DC may soon have an official amphibian

WASHINGTON — D.C. has an official bird, mammal, fish, crustacean, dinosaur, flower, fruit and tree. 

It does not, however, have an official amphibian, as some young students are now pointing out.

Fourth graders at Powell Elementary School are pushing to make the red-backed salamander the official amphibian of the District. After studying the salamanders in class, some students met with the D.C. City Council to make their case last week.

Two of those students, Max and Davi, spoke with WUSA9’s Wisdom Martin Monday morning about the red-backed salamanders. They say they found the most salamanders in Rock Creek Park.

“We found so many of them,” Max said.

“Under logs,” Davi added. “You can see them sometimes on rainy days. They don't come out that much on really hot days because they need to stay moist.”

Max said the students found the salamanders as a part of a class project.

“We gave them a speech and they asked a few questions and we had to answer them,” Davi said.

Now that they’ve made their case to the council, the students want to get the word out.

“We're gonna just try to get more people to know about this,” Max said.

Even though they think the salamanders are super cool, the fourth graders said they’re not pets.

“We leave them alone and we take pictures,” Max said.