One unseasonably warm, rainy night in mid-March, thousands of salamanders emerged from their underground burrows across Central New York.
They crawled over the cold, damp earth, pulled by instinct toward vernal pools of snowmelt and rainwater where, if all went well, they’d find a mate.
Amphibian enthusiasts call this annual phenomenon “Big Night.” But for many salamanders sallying forth on asphalt, it might also be their last night, as they risk being turned into paste by passing cars…