“I hoped you would come tonight,” Dr. Kate said as Cricket, Tyler and Shilo rode up on their bikes. She was crouching in the middle of the road and held out extra buckets she had brought for them. Cricket introduced Tyler to Dr. Kate, and then they all got to work.
“If you can collect the salamanders, I’ll measure and mark them for my research,” Dr. Kate said. “We’ll let them go in the grass on the other side of the road, like last night.”
During the day the road had been busy with lots of tourists and traffic, but by evening things were quiet. Hikers were resting their tired feet. Fishermen were in their cabins, cleaning their catches. Campers were cooking their dinners over fires, and the visitors who had come to Waterton for the day had all left.
“Don’t try to grab him by the tail,” Dr. Kate warned. “Squeeze him gently between his front and back legs and cup him in your hands. He won’t squirm in the dark. Go ahead and give it a try.”
“He likes the dark?” Shilo asked in surprise.
Dr. Kate nodded. “He feels safer in the dark, so he’s calmer.”
“Lucky him.”
Cricket crouched down. The salamander at her feet was as long as her pointer finger but thicker. A bright-yellow stripe raced down his back. She took a deep breath and grasped the salamander around his middle. He wasn’t slimy, like she’d expected, and he weighed almost nothing. He felt kind of smooshy—like wobbly Jell-O. The salamander’s feet felt like tiny twigs scratching the palm of her hand. It tickled.
“Okay, I’ve got one!” Cricket walked to the side of the road where Dr. Kate had spread out her equipment.
“Great work, Cricket.”
While Cricket held the salamander still, Dr. Kate measured him with her ruler. She made notes on her clipboard. Then she prepared a needle.
“What’s that? Are you giving him a shot?” Cricket asked.
Tyler came over to watch.
“Kind of,” said Dr. Kate. “It’s a little dot of blue dye that we put under his skin, where it can’t wash off. It helps us count the salamanders.”
“Good idea,” Tyler said. “That way you’ll know if there are fifty salamanders crossing the road or just one little guy going back and forth fifty times.”
Dr. Kate laughed. “That’s right. The dye won’t last forever, but I like it better than some of the other ways of marking salamanders.”
“Like what?” Tyler asked. “Couldn’t you just take a picture of each one? I bet you could tell them apart by the stripes down their backs. I think they do that with orcas near Vancouver Island.”
Dr. Kate nodded. “You’re right. Their stripes are unique, just like an orca’s fin or a human fingerprint, but I would need a computer program to sort that out. Still, that’s better than chopping off one of their toes.”
Cricket and Tyler gasped.
“That’s so mean!” Shilo said. She had another salamander cupped in her hands.
“Some scientists say it doesn’t hurt the salamander, but nature gave them two long toes for a reason. I don’t think we should cut them off.” Dr. Kate finished marking the salamander in Cricket’s hands. “You can put him in the grass now, Cricket.”
Tyler tried to help, but holding a salamander in his hands gave him the creeps. He wandered down the road, studying the cement curb the construction crew had built a few months before.
Cricket and Shilo worked steadily, but there seemed to be more salamanders than the night before. Shadows on the road grew longer, and the air cooled.
“It’s nearly dark, Cricket. I have to go. Are you coming?” Shilo asked.
Cricket looked at all the salamanders still on the road. “No, I’m going to stay and help.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow.”
It was completely dark by the time Dr. Kate and Cricket finished. As Dr. Kate packed up her equipment, Cricket looked around for Tyler. He was crouched at the curb, digging into his pockets.
Cricket rolled her eyes. “Don’t you have enough rocks, Tyler?”
“Nope.” He pointed to a small rock ramp that he had built over the curb. “I call it the Salamander Step.” Dr. Kate joined them and watched as a salamander easily climbed the ramp instead of trying to pull itself over the steep curb.
“That’s brilliant, Tyler!” Dr. Kate said.
Cricket couldn’t believe it. Tyler had finally found a purpose for all those rocks he carried around.
