In short
The search for the Blanco Blind Salamander, a “lost species” last seen in the early 1950s, and how scientists try to find missing animals in Texas’s Edwards Aquifer using eDNA and cave fieldwork.
Guest backgrounds
Andy Glussenkamp is a herpetologist at the San Antonio Zoo who has worked on the salamander case for 20 years. Vox Science reporter Benji Jones joins the investigation; reporter Mandy Nguyen originally reported the story.
Key claims
Proving extinction is hard; “lost” means not seen for decades. The Blanco Blind Salamander is known only from one preserved specimen (sent to UT Austin). eDNA sampling can detect DNA without seeing the animal, but there’s no original Blanco DNA sequence for a definitive match.
Notable examples
Jackson’s climbing salamander rediscovered (2017); chevrotain rediscovered (2019); a lost mosquito fish last seen in 1983 later listed extinct.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOThe Extinction Crisis
0:49 to 1:29
Understanding the rapid extinction rates and lost species.
“This is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs.”
Mandy's Investigation
1:30 to 1:56
Mandy Nguyen's journey to find a missing species in Texas.
“But what about the species that slip through the cracks?”
The Blanco Blind Salamander
1:57 to 3:08
Exploring the mysterious Blanco Blind Salamander and its history.
“and she found this mysterious underwater world hiding beneath one of the biggest cities in the country.”
The Search for Clues
3:09 to 5:30
The search for the Blanco Blind Salamander and its last known whereabouts.
“A gravel company was looking for water, and so they tore up some ground near a natural spring in San Marcos, a city between San Antonio and Austin.”
Defining Lost Species
5:31 to 7:40
What constitutes a lost species and the challenges in identifying them.
“and then I think about animals that have gone missing as well.”
The Edwards Aquifer
7:41 to 8:55
Exploring the biodiversity and challenges of the Edwards Aquifer.
“And so we need to know what those animals are.”
Environmental DNA Sampling
8:56 to 14:00
The process of eDNA sampling and its significance in species identification.
“This is the portal, one of these extremely rare portals.”
Exploring the Aquifer's Secrets
14:00 to 15:52
Discover the unique ecosystem of the Edwards Aquifer and its inhabitants.
“It's like trying to figure out where a puzzle piece goes.”
Exploring the Aquifer's Secrets
16:07 to 17:28
Discover the unique ecosystem of the Edwards Aquifer and its inhabitants.
“This new podcast from the Berggruen Institute can help you get ahead of tomorrow.”
The Quest for the Blanco Blind Salamander
17:28 to 17:53
Join the journey to discover the elusive Blanco Blind Salamander.
“I ate a salamander and jumped out the window!”
Show all 16 chapters
Field Trip to Honey Creek Cave
17:53 to 20:01
Experience the adventure of exploring Honey Creek Cave.
“But finding the Blanco Blind Salamander would only be the starting point to unraveling its mysterious life.”
Journey into the Dark
20:01 to 23:09
Dive into the mysteries of the cave and its unique inhabitants.
“Is that where we're going to be heading into?”
Discovery of the Kamal Blind Salamander
23:09 to 25:08
Encounter the Kamal Blind Salamander in a thrilling underwater exploration.
“It's hard to hear him because his phone is literally underwater.”
The Significance of Salamanders
25:08 to 27:07
Understand the ecological importance of the Blanco Blind Salamander.
“So we stop to sit on a rock ledge on the way out.”
A Visit to the San Marcos River
27:07 to 28:00
Experience the beauty of the San Marcos River and its connection to the aquifer.
“The Blanco Blind Salamanders ecosystem is our ecosystem.”
Exploring the Chilly Waters
28:00 to 28:36
The hosts discuss their anticipation and experience of getting into chilly water.
“You think they're going to find salamanders?”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Benji Jones:Support for this show comes from Indeed. When the pressure's on and you need to hire the right person for the job, Indeed Sponsored Jobs has your back. Sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95 % more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. Join the 3.3 million employers worldwide that use Indeed to connect with quality talent that fits their needs. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs.
0:34Benji Jones:And listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support this show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply.
0:52Andy Gluesenkamp:Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs. When I scraped my car in that parking garage, I was worried that it could be a long process to take care of it. Like a landscaper's first day trimming a hedgeman. I have definitely already been here. Now, was it left, right, or right, left? Well, maybe I'll cut a path out and find my way back later. But it wasn't like that. I filed a claim in under two minutes on the GEICO app, and they handled it from there. It was taken care of almost as quickly as it happened. It feels good to get help quick. It feels good to GEICO. Right now, species are going extinct at the fastest rate since when the dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago.
1:36Andy Gluesenkamp:It's a crisis. But what about the species that slip through the cracks? The ones where we aren't sure whether they're extinct? The ones that have gone missing? A few years ago, our reporter Mandy Nguyen flew down to Texas to look for one of these missing species. She ended up making one of our favorite episodes, so we wanted to share it again with you. because Mandy actually went cave diving and she found this mysterious underwater world hiding beneath one of the biggest cities in the country. Here's Mandy.
2:11Benji Jones:Andy Glussenkamp is kind of like a detective for animals.
2:17Andy Gluesenkamp:So basically, if it's creepy, crawly, slimy, or has scales, especially if it lives underground, yeah, I'm kind of interested.
2:26Benji Jones:Andy's a herpetologist, which means he studies reptiles and amphibians. He works at the San Antonio Zoo, and for the last 20 years, he's been working on a case. Searching for a missing creature.
2:37Andy Gluesenkamp:It's my white whale.
2:39Benji Jones:It's actually a white salamander. A blind one, called the Blanco Blind Salamander.
2:44Andy Gluesenkamp: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.
2:53Benji Jones:Except for one time, 71 years ago, and then never again.
2:59Andy Gluesenkamp: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.
3:12Benji Jones:A gravel company was looking for water, and so they tore up some ground near a natural spring in San Marcos, a city between San Antonio and Austin.
3:21Andy Gluesenkamp:They basically dug a big trench along this water-filled crevice, hoping that they could get to some pocket of water.
3:29Benji Jones:And at the bottom of the trench were some of the weirdest creatures these workers had ever seen. These four pale white salamanders with no eyes. They looked like they were from another world.
3:42Andy Gluesenkamp:And so the foreman at the time had the foresight to gather up a few in a bucket.
3:48Benji Jones:The crew went to lunch, but while they were gone...
3:51Andy Gluesenkamp:A heron, which are super common there, ate almost all the salamanders.
3:55Benji Jones:So there were two left.
3:57Andy Gluesenkamp:One salamander went to Texas State University, and it was immediately lost. And then there was one. 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.
4:18Benji Jones:No one has seen another live one since. The salamander that was sent to UT Austin is the only specimen on the planet. It's not alive, but it's preserved.
4:30Andy Gluesenkamp:And they have this warehouse that's just filled with all kinds of specimens, all kinds of reptiles and amphibians. And then there is this jar with the salamander in it.
4:39Benji Jones:Vox Science reporter Benji Jones.
4:41Andy Gluesenkamp:It was in a, it looked, I mean, it could have been a pickle jar. It was in just like a glass jar with a label on it. And the jar is 70 % ethanol. You open the lid, it smells a little bit like vodka. And then it's just kind of floating on the bottom.
5:00Benji Jones:A dead preserved salamander isn't exactly glamorous.
5:03Andy Gluesenkamp:It looks like about like a three inch long, pale, no color, no eyes, just like hunk of flesh. and it was like furrowed, like very wrinkly and hard as well. And that's just because it's literally so old. And so, yeah, it kind of looks like a 70-year-old salamander.
5:23Benji Jones:Benji wasn't impressed by what he saw in front of him. But the mystery of the Blanco Blind salamander captured his imagination.
5:30Andy Gluesenkamp:It's just a really intriguing idea because I love like murder mysteries and then I think about animals that have gone missing as well. And I think there are just a lot of interesting questions you can answer in looking for them and understanding how they even went missing at all, given that the world is so explored.
5:47Benji Jones:You may have heard of categories like endangered or threatened. These are animals that are at risk of extinction. But there's this whole other category, lost species. Species that have gone missing.
6:00Andy Gluesenkamp:They could be extinct. They could be at risk of extinction. And we're just not sure because we haven't seen them for at least 10 years. And by some definitions, lost means no one has seen them for at least 50 years.
6:12Benji Jones:But if something hasn't been seen in such a long time, how do we know it's not extinct?
6:18Andy Gluesenkamp:To prove an animal is extinct is actually really difficult. It requires that you do exhaustive searches across all the potential habitat that it could live in and prove that it does not exist there. So it's a really severe thing to say that something is extinct.
6:34Benji Jones:A lost species is more like a big question mark. It's missing, but there's not enough information to say that it's gone for good. And scientists all around the world have been looking for these lost species.
6:48Andy Gluesenkamp:There's this broader need to understand and take stock of what lives on this planet, both because it's really cool to know what we live with and what we share our world with, But also, I would say one thing I hear a lot from researchers is that you can't protect what you don't know exists.
7:10Benji Jones:There is some hope, though. Hundreds of species have been found after disappearing for decades. The Jackson's climbing salamander was rediscovered in Guatemala in 2017. And in 2019, the chevrotain, which is this animal the size of a big rabbit that somehow also looks like a deer, that was rediscovered in Vietnam. finding these lost species might be the only way to help them avoid extinction because when they're found, we can take action.
7:36Andy Gluesenkamp:There are also limited amounts of resources to protect species and they'll often go towards the animals that are at risk of extinction. And so we need to know what those animals are.
7:48Benji Jones:People like Andy have been searching for them. And so far, Andy's only lead is that sole preserved specimen of the Blanco Blind salamander. this dry, jerky-looking, vodka-drenched hunk in a jar. But even though no one has seen a live one for decades, Andy's convinced it's still out there.
8:05Andy Gluesenkamp:Rather than writing that species off and saying, 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.
8:17Benji Jones:I'm Manning Wint, and this is Unexplainable. On this week's show, Benji and I go to Texas to join the search for the missing salamander and to try and answer an even bigger question. How do species go missing? And if they do, how do we find them?
8:46Benji Jones:Holy hell, it's hot. It's hot. Oh my God.
Read the full transcript
8:50Andy Gluesenkamp:90, 95 degrees.
8:54Benji Jones:As with any detective case, we start our investigation around where the salamander was last seen.
9:00Andy Gluesenkamp: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? Yeah. It's got something hanging on. Let's slide it sideways.
9:10Benji Jones:The last time anyone saw a live Blanco Blind salamander, it was near a natural spring that connects to a huge underground world of watery caverns, lakes, and streams that can reach more than a thousand feet deep. and that stretches for thousands of miles under south-central Texas. This is the world of the Blanco Blind salamander, the Edwards Aquifer. Oh, wow.
9:34Andy Gluesenkamp:So there is water down there.
9:35Benji Jones:90 feet down. Echo.
9:37Andy Gluesenkamp:And this is how deep? 360. 360 feet.
9:43Benji Jones:All we can see is a smooth pool of water that dips into black.
9:47Andy Gluesenkamp:I'll walk up to one of these and be totally unimpressed until I look down it, and then I get, you know, dizzy. the mind starts to reel, just thinking about what's going on down there.
10:01Benji Jones:Staring into the well, I try to imagine what's going on deep beneath the surface. The Edwards Aquifer is one of the most biodiverse aquifers in the world, right in the middle of Texas. The creatures that call this aquifer home have been evolving in isolation for tens of millions of years, and many of them aren't found anywhere else in the world. There are blind catfish, countless tiny invertebrates, a lot of creatures which never needed to evolve eyes in the perpetual darkness. But despite how huge this aquifer is, most of it is pretty hard to access.
10:36Andy Gluesenkamp:There's big water, but a lot of the water that moves in the aquifer is moving through essentially Swiss cheese.
10:42Benji Jones:Most of the aquifer is packed with layers of sediment, with openings just big enough for water and small creatures to slip through.
10:49Andy Gluesenkamp:It's more like a very large area of porous rock than a giant underground ocean.
10:56Benji Jones:And hidden in this world somewhere, we think, is the Blanco Blind Salamander.
11:06Andy Gluesenkamp:Imagine trying to search for a hair tie in a warehouse of Olympic-sized pools using a bucket in the dark. It is very difficult to try to find this thing.
11:18Benji Jones:Andy has been looking for over 20 years, but hasn't found a single one. A big problem for him has been access. Well, in the area around the discovery site, there aren't accessible portals to the aquifer.
11:34Andy Gluesenkamp:There aren't many.
11:35Benji Jones:Most of Texas is private land. And Andy's found that landowners don't really like biologists coming onto their land and digging into their water sources, trying to catch salamanders. Thankfully, he doesn't need to catch the Blanco blind salamander itself to know it's out there. All he needs is a clue.
11:52Andy Gluesenkamp:Is this equipment made for sampling like this?
11:56Benji Jones:Andy has this plastic container to sample water, and he throws it into the well.
12:01Andy Gluesenkamp:There we go, we hit water. So this is like the modern version of dropping a bucket in the well. Yeah, not that modern.
12:09Benji Jones:Andy pulls up some well water and then puts it in a little syringe. And then you're going to shoot this through a filter that hopefully will capture the DNA.
12:18Andy Gluesenkamp:Yeah. It's 0.8 nanometers.
12:24Benji Jones:Wow.
12:25Andy Gluesenkamp:And then we push some preservative in, screw the caps on the filter. And what you're preserving is the DNA. Yeah.
12:32Benji Jones:All living organisms are constantly shedding DNA through our hair, our skin cells, our blood. Scientists can take these clues, compare them to a large database of animal DNA, and then hope for a match. It's a process called eDNA sampling.
12:49Andy Gluesenkamp:eDNA is free-floating DNA shed by living organisms. And it just stands for environmental DNA. Environmental DNA. And it could be airborne, soil-borne, or water-borne.
13:00Benji Jones:Scientists have been using eDNA to find animals for about a decade now, and it's been a game-changer for monitoring wildlife. eDNA sampling can't tell scientists an animal's age or the population size, but it's been used to detect invasive species and to rediscover lost ones. But there's one problem.
13:18Andy Gluesenkamp:There's no sequence data available for this species?
13:22Benji Jones:The DNA of the original salamander was never preserved. So even if Andy finds the eDNA he's looking for, he might not know it. He has no original Blanco blind salamander DNA to compare it to.
13:35Andy Gluesenkamp:So basically, there will never be a positive match with the DNA of the salamander because you don't have the DNA of the salamander. So you're looking for something close to that that is not hitting any others. Close to you, but not you, so maybe your third cousin.
13:51Benji Jones:Andy basically needs to take the eDNA he finds, compare it to the DNA of other living salamanders and other animals in the aquifer. And if it's different in just the right way, it might belong to the Blanco blind salamander. It's like trying to figure out where a puzzle piece goes. You need to put the other pieces in place to see which one is missing and where it fits. So what else lives in this aquifer? What's their world like? And do we know enough of this puzzle to place this missing salamander?
14:20Andy Gluesenkamp:This amazing world full of undescribed vertebrates that are crazy looking things. Well, they don't look at all. They're blind. But they're really strange to look at. It's literally right below our feet.
14:32Benji Jones:We had to get down there ourselves to find out.
14:35Andy Gluesenkamp:All right. You guys ready?
14:39Whoa.
14:41Benji Jones:After the break, we go spelunking.
14:50Andy Gluesenkamp:Support for the show comes from Shopify. Before doing anything worthwhile, it is normal to wonder, what if I fail? Especially if it's something as uncertain as starting a business. But the other side of that coin is, what if I totally knock it out of the park? And Shopify can help get you closer to unlocking that second answer. It is, by their numbers, the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all e-commerce in the U.S. So from household names like Gymshark and Magic Spoon to brands just making a name for themselves. They say their design studio is equipped to help you create exactly the online presence you envision with hundreds of ready-to-use website templates.
15:30Andy Gluesenkamp:And if you ever wonder, what if I get stuck? Don't sweat it because Shopify has award-winning 24-7 customer support that can help you get unstuck. So it is time to turn those what-ifs into Shopify today. You can sign up for your$1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash unexplainable. You can go to shopify.com slash unexplainable. That is shopify.com slash unexplainable.
16:03Andy Gluesenkamp:Support for this show comes from the Futurology podcast. With so much changing every minute, it can feel silly to think more than a few days in the future, but exploring what could happen in the weeks, years, and even decades to come can reshape how we approach our lives today, which is exactly what futurology is for. This new podcast from the Berggruen Institute can help you get ahead of tomorrow. Futurology isn't sci-fi. Each week, they have thoughtful conversations with scientists, artists, technologists, philosophers, people who illuminate the forces shaping our lives and try to imagine both where they'll take us and also how we can respond.
16:44Andy Gluesenkamp:They discuss whether the future is something we have to endure or something we can design. And if we can design it, what will we build? Subscribe to Futurology wherever you get your podcasts or watch full episodes on YouTube.
17:28Andy Gluesenkamp:We'll be right back. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC.
17:35Benji Jones:No, sir! I ate a salamander and jumped out the window! My daughter just got accepted to Newtopia University. Unexplainable, I'm Manding Wint. We've been following Andy's journey to find the missing Blanco Blind Salamander. Its last known location, the Edwards Aquifer. And the best clue to find it, its DNA. But finding the Blanco Blind Salamander would only be the starting point to unraveling its mysterious life.
18:02Andy Gluesenkamp:It would be wonderful to be able to have some sort of closure on this mystery. Not just, what is it? What are its relationships? Where does it live? How is it doing? It's an extraordinary animal. If the Blanco Blind Salamander were a missing person, we'd be interviewing close friends, family, community members.
18:24Benji Jones:because to know a salamander, you need to know what it's connected to.
18:28Andy Gluesenkamp:And so how long of a drive to the cave from here? 10 minutes.
18:31Benji Jones:Sweet. Benji and I wanted to see the world of the salamanders for ourselves, to know the other pieces that make up the hole. So Andy took us on a field trip.
18:41Andy Gluesenkamp:We are driving across a private ranch on our way to the entrance of Honey Creek Cave.
18:48Benji Jones:The Edwards Aquifer is through this cave.
18:51Andy Gluesenkamp:Are we here? Yeah. Yep. Here's a northern cricket frog, a whole bunch of them. Wait, where?
18:57Benji Jones:Oh!
18:59Andy Gluesenkamp:That's where. So we are standing in Honey Creek, and we are looking at the upstream end of the pool that is formed by water spilling out of the cave and down the spring run into Honey Creek.
19:18Benji Jones:Looking downstream at the creek, It's green and pristine blue as far as the eye can see.
19:24Andy Gluesenkamp:It's like beautiful fish swimming under a blanket of lily pads. The waterfall literally looks like it was sculpted by, like, Home Depot's garden center. This is literally the cleanest creek for 75 miles in any direction. It's an absolute jewel.
19:45Benji Jones:Standing at the edge of this creek, listening to the birds and the water flowing, It's hard to imagine that the source of all this is beyond that cave and deep underground.
19:55Andy Gluesenkamp:That crevice that you see right there is the dry entrance. Oh, it's so nondescript. It's almost hidden. Yeah, we try and make them that way.
20:05Benji Jones:Is that where we're going to be heading into?
20:07Andy Gluesenkamp:We're going to go in there.
20:13Benji Jones:Oh, so cool. Immediately full there. Oh, wow. Pitch black already. We slip into the cave entrance and the temperature drops dramatically. There's cool air from deep within the cave system, which always remains at 68 degrees Fahrenheit, no matter what temperature it is outside. Just sit down and cool down with your lights off.
20:36Andy Gluesenkamp:Let your eyes adjust a little.
20:40Benji Jones:Whoa.
20:41Andy Gluesenkamp:Are we going in that water thing? This hole is big.
20:44Benji Jones:All we can see ahead of us is a ledge that leads into still water. and past that, complete darkness.
20:51Andy Gluesenkamp:Lights on? Um, well, I don't want to trip on these rocks.
20:57Benji Jones:We zip up our wetsuits and put on our helmets and snorkels and turn on our flashlights. By this point, I've left my audio equipment on dry land and Benji starts recording with his phone in a waterproof case.
21:10Andy Gluesenkamp:Okay. Oh, wow, there are spiders everywhere.
21:14Benji Jones:Shining our lights on the cave walls, we see a giant mass of spider-like arachnids. They're stretched across the ceiling of the cave. They almost look like they're dancing.
21:24Andy Gluesenkamp:Some caves, you look down into the cave, and it looks like just a pulsing beard because virtually the whole entrance is a solid, all the walls are a solid map of those. Oh, my God.
21:38Benji Jones:Benji and I are trying not to freak out at the carpet of spider-like creatures on the ceiling. But Andy's cheery.
21:44Andy Gluesenkamp:It's really fun when you're caving with buddies and scoop up a handful of those and shovel down the back of someone's shirt. And they smell like Mark's a lot pens, you know.
21:55Benji Jones:As we walk deeper into the cave, there are fish, frogs, and insects that greet us along the way.
22:02Andy Gluesenkamp:All right. You guys ready? No, this is for my mask. Deeper.
22:11Whoa.
22:12Benji Jones:The ledge drops out beneath us, and we're swimming.
22:16Andy Gluesenkamp:So if you turn clear water, yeah, if you turn right, you come out the spring. If you turn left, you got a lot of caves. Right, spring, left, deep into the cave. Yep. Wow.
22:28Benji Jones:Andy leads the way. We can't see anything except what's illuminated by the narrow rays of our flashlights. We swim, and we duck under stalactites that jut out from the ceiling. There are points hovering barely a foot above the water. Everyone good? It's okay to hold on to these?
22:45Andy Gluesenkamp:Be very gentle. Maybe not then.
22:52Benji Jones:Andy scans a flashlight across the bottom of the cave, about 15 feet down, looking for something.
22:57Andy Gluesenkamp:Can you see it? Yeah, you can see all the way to the bottom. That's incredible.
23:03Benji Jones:He shines his light on a little white blob, sitting still on the cave floor.
23:08Andy Gluesenkamp:There's a talmud.
23:20Benji Jones:It's hard to hear him because his phone is literally underwater. But Benji's yelling, I saw it. Andy dives down to catch the blob and brings it back up in a little net. We're bobbing in the cold water, trying to see this little creature.
23:40Benji Jones:It's not the Blanco blind salamander. It's a different one, the Kamal blind salamander. It's tiny, barely two inches long, and it doesn't have eyes. It doesn't need them here in the perpetual darkness.
23:55Benji Jones:The Kamal blind salamander, like many other creatures in the Edwards Aquifer, is only found here. Thirteen other species here have been categorized as threatened or endangered. and a lost mosquito fish that was last seen in 1983 in the aquifer was recently listed as extinct. Finding our missing salamander, the Blanco Blind salamander, is about a lot more than just saving one species. Andy says it could teach us a lot about this underground world. The salamanders probably have very sensitive skin, which makes them susceptible to pollution. So if Andy can find one alive, it's a good sign for the health of the aquifer.
24:35Benji Jones:But if he can't, it could be a sign of bigger problems, both for the creatures here and the humans who live above it. The Edwards Aquifer provides drinking water for 2 million people in the region. And urban development above the aquifer is threatening its delicate ecosystem. So the Blanco Blind Salamander could be like a canary in the coal mine, if we can find it.
25:02Benji Jones:Swimming back to the entrance, I can feel the cold deep in my bones, and I can't catch my breath. So we stop to sit on a rock ledge on the way out. Then, someone suggests that we turn off our lights.
25:19Benji Jones:Pure darkness. All I can hear is our breath and the light splashing of water. I stop feeling cold. I don't notice my own short breath. I can't register anything. For a moment, I feel myself disappear, dissolving into the dark world of water and salamanders.
25:44Benji Jones:Turns out, there's maybe another explanation for what I was feeling. When we get back to the entrance, Andy says that the cave has bad air. Limestone releases carbon dioxide, and the cave restricts airflow, so there's literally too much CO2 in there. I may just have been experiencing low-grade hypoxia. But still, I can see why Andy keeps coming back to this world, and to the salamander, again and again.
26:11Andy Gluesenkamp:To be honest, why am I working on the Blanco Blind Salamander? Because it captured my imagination.
26:16Benji Jones:How often do you get the chance to chase a decades-old mystery in an eerie underground world that just happens to be in your backyard?
26:23Andy Gluesenkamp:And this one is a great challenge. It's been over 70 years since this species has been seen. There are species and ecosystems disappearing all the time. It seems like an accelerating rate. We need to focus on the things that we can make a positive difference. We've got the resources, the technology. We can keep this around.
26:44Benji Jones:So even though it's missing, there's no reason to write it off.
26:49Andy Gluesenkamp:Writing off a species is tantamount to burning all the books in the library that you haven't read yet. My goal is to fill in all those blanks that we need to make sound decisions.
27:07Benji Jones:The Blanco Blind Salamanders ecosystem is our ecosystem. An entire world right under our feet, spilling out and sustaining the world above.
27:19Benji Jones:Before Benji and I leave Texas, Andy tells us that we have to go visit the San Marcos River, which is fed by the Edwards Aquifer.
27:27Andy Gluesenkamp:It is just like a perfect summer day. Oh, everyone's out.
27:32Benji Jones:The water looks so lovely.
27:33Andy Gluesenkamp:It is so enticing. It literally comes out of the aquifer here, which means that the water is pretty clean. And you can see it looks like...
27:40Benji Jones:It looks clear.
27:40Andy Gluesenkamp:Like crystal clear, make a little bit of a greenish blue hue.
27:45Benji Jones:We stand at the river's edge, and for a moment we just take in the bright sun, the blue sky, the sparkling water, and all the people enjoying it. This is really beautiful.
27:55Andy Gluesenkamp:There's literally nothing you can do but get in the water when it's this hot, and that is what everyone here is doing.
28:01Benji Jones:You think they're going to find salamanders?
28:03Andy Gluesenkamp:No.
28:05Benji Jones:All right, shall we? We're going to get in the water.
28:07Andy Gluesenkamp:All right, let's see how this feels. Oh, it is chilly. Oh my God. It's, I mean, it's incredible. It is so chilly, but it's exactly what I want to feel right now.
28:19Benji Jones:Yay!
28:30Andy Gluesenkamp:This episode was reported by me, Benji Jones, and Mandy Nguyen, who produced this episode. There was editing from Meredith Hodnot, Catherine Wells, Brian Resnick, and Noam Hassenfeld, who also scored the episode. Christian Ayala did the mixing and sound design, Richard Seema did the fact-checking, and Bird Pinkerton is off hiking into the woods in search of buried treasure. If you want to read more about lost species and the missing salamander, check out the story I wrote for Vox.com titled, Why Scientists Are Desperate to Find a Salamander That's Been Missing for 71 Years. Additional thanks to Barney Long, Devin Murphy, and Lena Valencia at Rewild, Travis LaDuke and Adam Cohen at UT Austin, as well as Ben Hutchins, Ben Schwartz, and Scott Nicholson.
29:16Andy Gluesenkamp:If you have thoughts about this episode or ideas for the show, please email us. We're unexplainable at vox.com. We'd also love it if you left us a review or a rating. Unexplainable is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
30:02Benji Jones:We'll see you next time. design professionals. Free samples. Zero pressure. Right now, get up to 45 % off with minimum purchase. Plus, get a free professional measure at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions apply.
30:14Andy Gluesenkamp:There's a new way to Sweetgreen. Meet Wraps. Handheld, hearty, and made for life on the moon. With bold, chef-crafted flavors, fresh ingredients, and over 40 grams of protein, they're built to satisfy without slowing you down. Try Wraps today in the app or at order.sweetgreen.com, available at all participating locations.
From the publisher
One of the world’s most biodiverse aquifers is full of strange, blind creatures that have evolved in isolation for millions of years. But one is missing. (Originally aired in 2022)
Guests: Benji Jones, Vox senior correspondent; Andy Gluesenkamp, Conservation biologist and herpetologist (a reptiles and amphibians guy)
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read every email.
Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members
Thank you!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices