Had it not been discovered more than 40 years ago, such a scene might have been impossible, as the fossorial species digging holes in Alabama's forest faced pollution and logging.

The amphibian lives in a narrow five-by-50-kilometer (three-by-31-mile) area in the southern US state's Red Hills, now protected by limits on tree-cutting but still facing dangers from natural disasters and hungry wild animals.

In 1961, scientist Leslie Hubricht happened upon the Red Hills salamander while looking for snails, said Richard Highton, a University of Maryland professor.

After Hubricht sent the 25-centimeter (10-inch) long salamander to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, Highton wrote up a description and gave it its scientific name, Phaeognathus hubrichti.

The Red Hills salamander looks like a worm with tiny four legs and protruding round eyes. There are on average five salamanders in every 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) in this area, living in holes dug out of sand and clay.

"We find it from time to time," said one of its human neighbors, Levon Harfold, 46, who lives in an isolated old farm a few kilometers from Georgiana.

Logging was thriving at the time of the salamander's discovery, drying up humid slopes and threatening the species.

But scientists warned the US Fish and Wildlife Service about the salamander's existence, leading the agency to place it under federal protection in 1976.

Timber companies that own forest land reached an agreement with the federal agency to stop cutting trees in sensitive areas.

"It all depends on the companies," said Kenneth Dodd, of the US Geological Survey-Florida Integrated Science Center.

"If the timber companies which have signed live up (to the agreement) actually, the future of the Red Hills salamander is certainly not in danger," Dodd, who conducted a field study about 15 years about, told AFP.

Loggers say they are doing everything to protect the amphibian.

"We signed a Habitat Conservation Plan," said Jacky Walburn, a spokesman for timber company Weyerhaeuser, which manages 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) of forest in the salamander's area.

Walburn said the company does not cut wood in the animal's habitat, adding, "the animal is saved."

"The future is very stable," said David Whitehouse of International Papers. "We have worked a lot on protecting the habitat."

But the salamander faces other threats.

Hurricane Ivan last year destroyed many hectares of Red Hills forest after slamming Alabama's southern coast, drying up slopes that are home to the salamander, according to an AFP reporter.

The amphibian also faces threats from hungry animals.

Pigs that have escaped farms roam the forest, stomping on the salamander's habitat, while armadillos, which are multiplying due to the dwindling number of mountain lions, feast on the bug-eyed animal.

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