Andy Glusenkamp

So basically, if it's creepy, crawly, slimy, or has scales, especially if it lives underground, yeah, I'm kind of interested.

It's my white whale.

If you asked herpetologists, most of them have heard of it.

It's one of the most famous amphibians that no one's ever seen.

During the early 1950s, Texas suffered the worst drought in Texas history.

It was called the drought of record.

And it's the drought that we compare all other droughts to.

And a lot of major springs went dry.

They basically dug a big trench along this water-filled crevice, hoping that they could get to some pocket of water.

And so the foreman at the time had the foresight to gather up a few in a bucket.

The crew went to lunch, but while they were gone... A heron, which was super common there, ate almost all the salamanders.

One salamander went to Texas State University and it was immediately lost.

And the other specimen actually rolled around in my predecessor's trunk for a number of years before he was finally convinced to deposit it in the University of Texas at Austin's collections.

Rather than writing that species off and say, well, it must be extinct because no one's seen it since 1951, I think we really need to focus on looking for it.

No one's actually looked for it.

This is the portal, one of these extremely rare portals.

This one, is it too hot to lift?

It's heavy.

Can I help you?

Let's slide it sideways.