Great crested newt
The Great Crested Newt is the largest newt species found in Europe, known for its lizard-like appearance and soft, jelly-like skin. Closely related to frogs and toads, these amphibians inhabit much of central and northern Europe. They typically measure about 6.5 inches (16 centimeters) in length and display a distinctive breeding crest in males during the spring and summer mating season. Their lifestyle includes both terrestrial and aquatic phases; on land, they often hide under stones and logs, while they return to water during breeding.
In a fascinating reproductive process, males court females by wiggling their tails and releasing a spermatophore, which the female uses to fertilize her eggs. She lays around 200 eggs, wrapping each in a water plant leaf. The eggs incubate for two to five weeks before hatching into transparent tadpoles that later metamorphose into adults. Great Crested Newt tadpoles are carnivorous and consume small aquatic animals. Although they face threats from various predators, they have a unique defense mechanism that involves releasing a toxic substance. With an average lifespan of about 15 years, Great Crested Newts are currently not considered a threatened species.
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Great crested newt
Great crested newts are the largest of the European newts. They are lizard-like in their body shapes, but have much softer skin, and are actually much more closely related to frogs and toads. Great crested newts may also be called northern crested newts.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Salamandridae
Genus: Triturus
Species: Cristatus
Great crested newts are soft-bodied, natural-colored amphibians that inhabit much of central and northern Europe. They are shaped somewhat like lizards, but they have much more rounded heads and more jelly-like skin. They use their large tails to help propel them through water and their short limbs to help them walk on land. They have four fingers on their front limbs and five toes on their hind limbs. Great crested newts grow to be about 6 1/2 inches (16 centimeters) long.
Much like many other amphibians, great crested newts spend part of their time on land and part of their time in water. When on land, they often lie under stones and logs and in damp grass and leafy litter. During the spring and summer, great crested newts go back into the water for breeding. The male develops a large, ridged, crest along his back. These crests on the males give these creatures their name. The male courts the female by wiggling his tail and rubbing his mate. The male begins the mating process by releasing a capsule, or sac, called a spermatophore. The female takes this sac and inserts it into her body near to where her eggs are located. The contents of the spermatophore fertilize her eggs. She then deposits about 200 eggs. She wraps each egg individually in the leaf of a water plant. The eggs incubate, or develop, for about two to five weeks depending on temperature. When the tadpoles, or young newts, come out of their shells they are mostly transparent, or clear, with feathery gills. They breathe through their gills until they change, or metamorphose, into adult newts with lungs.
Great crested newt tadpoles survive on a diet of tiny water animals. Like their parents, newt tadpoles are carnivores, or meat-eaters. As they grow and change, they begin to eat a wider variety of insects, worms, slugs, snails, and even smaller tadpoles. After two to four months, great crested newt tadpoles are ready to crawl out of the water and live on land, only to return to the water when breeding.
Great crested newts are threatened by snakes, birds, and small mammals. They protect themselves by emitting, or giving off, a poisonous substance from the glands along their backs.
Great crested newts have an average life span of about 15 years. They are not a threatened species.
Bibliography
Krekels, Rene. “Great Crested Newt.” National Geographic, 2024, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/facts/great-crested-newt. Accessed 8 May 2024.
Raschka, Achim. “Northern Crested Newt - Facts, Diet, Habitat, & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia, 2024, animalia.bio/northern-crested-newt/1000. Accessed 8 May 2024.