1. fire salamander
Lurchi against the apocalypse
The fire salamander looks as if it had been invented by a graphic artist: jet black with bright yellow spots like nature's warning waistcoat. In fact, no two animals are alike. Each salamander has its own pattern - a biological fingerprint on amphibian skin.
It was once believed that salamanders could survive fire. That's why they adorned the coats of arms of kings and nobles. Today, Lurchi fails because of a fungus of all things. The imported skin fungus Bsalalso known as the "salamander plague", wipes out entire populations. It is for fire salamanders what corona was for us - only deadlier.
During the day, the animal hides under wood, stones or in damp forest soil. It only becomes active at night and when it rains. Then the salamanders plod slowly along paths and trails - stolid, fearless, almost trusting. They have hardly any natural enemies. In evolutionary terms, they have never had to be fast.
A mistake in the age of gravel and mountain biking.
Especially bitter: Fire salamanders should never be touched. Our skin creams, soap residues or bacteria can damage their sensitive skin. So humans kill them just by touching them. Or even through a front tyre.
Lifespan: up to 50 years. Half a century of forest spirit - rolled flat in a second.
2. stag beetle
The king of beetles
When the stag beetle flies, it sounds like a mini helicopter in low-level flight. No wonder: it is Europe's largest beetle. Males grow up to nine centimetres long and carry huge "antlers" - in reality monstrous upper jaws.
This is how they fight for females. However, more like drunken knights than gladiators: they try to push competitors off branches. Not particularly efficient, but impressive.
The real madness takes place underground. Stag beetle larvae live hidden in rotten oak stumps for up to eight years. Eight years of darkness for a few summer weeks of life as a finished beetle. Evolution can be cruel.
The stag beetle needs old forests with dead wood - something that our cleared forests hardly offer any more. That is why it is considered to be highly endangered. Anyone who sees one is actually experiencing a small miracle.
And yet Europe's king beetle sometimes ends up crunching under a tyre.
3. slow worm
The legless
The slow worm has a PR problem. It looks like a snake and is therefore regularly killed. But it's not a snake, it's a lizard. A lizard without legs. And it's not blind either.
It eats snails, worms and spiders, is completely harmless and moves through the undergrowth with stoic slowness. And this is precisely its downfall. Slow worms love warm paths and like to sunbathe on trails and forest tracks. They lie there like little bronze biobands.
When a bike arrives, it's usually too late.
Yet slow worms are among the most amazing reptiles in Europe. If they are grabbed, they can throw off their tail, which then continues to twitch for minutes. Escape by self-mutilation.
And theoretically, slow worms could live to be very old: up to 50 years. Half a century of slug hunting - ended by tubeless tyres, whether 35 or 50.
4. adder
Germany's last danger
The adder is one of only two venomous snakes in Germany. That sounds dramatic. But it hardly is. The animals are shy, defensive and almost only bite if you step on them or touch them. Their venom is rarely really dangerous for healthy adults.
Nevertheless, the adder lives in a permanent problem: people hate what they fear.
Yet it is a fascinating animal. With its dark zigzag line, it looks like a relic from a wilder time. Adders love moors, heathland and sparse forests. In the afternoon, they like to sunbathe on warm paths - unfortunately also on trails.
And that's where even Germany's most famous snake loses out to 28 inches and a rough profile.
The adder is now considered to be highly endangered. Wherever it occurs, there is often still a piece of real wilderness. Perhaps that is what makes them so valuable.
5. tiger flail
The good slug
The tiger's mallet sounds like a medieval weapon. In fact, it is a slug. A pretty cool one, though.
This spotted slime hunter grows up to 20 centimetres long. And it eats precisely those orange-coloured slugs that drive gardeners to white heat. The tiger slug is therefore something like the wolf in the lettuce patch.
In the mountains, it often turns an almost black colour - camouflage mode activated. This is exactly what makes it a disaster on dark trails. Many bikers simply don't see it. A short crack under the tyre and the night-time snail killer is history.
In 2005, the tiger drumstick was voted "Mollusc of the Year". Probably one of the best titles a mollusc can win.
6. common toad
The tragic
The common toad never had a fair chance. Too slow. Too clumsy. Too many enemies. Even in the Middle Ages, it was considered the ugliest animal in the world - an image problem that persists to this day.
Yet the common toad is a marvel of robustness. They can survive drought, cold and long migrations to their spawning waters. Some animals walk for kilometres every spring - often to the exact pond in which they were born.
Unfortunately, their route often takes them along roads, forest tracks and trails.
Especially at dusk, common toads sit motionless on warm ground. If a gravel bike comes along, they often don't react at all. Their strategy in the face of predators is normally to keep still and hope. Against gravel bikes and racing bikes, this works more like playing the lottery.
In the wild, common toads can live for ten to twelve years. In captivity even up to 40, which goes to show: The common toad's biggest problem is not nature. It's us.
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
