The olm is a blind salamander found only in the caves of the Dinaric Alps. Like the axolotl, it never metamorphoses, and its maximum lifespan has been estimated at ~102 years. Olms would occasionally wash out of caves during floods and were once believed to be baby dragons in Slovenia.

The island canary — native to the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores — is the wild ancestor of the domestic canary. It was bred to be garishly coloured, to have different haircuts and postures, and to imitate the songs of other birds or the sound of babbling water. Later, it was used to detect dangerous gases in coal mines.