| Gadzooks! A Blotched Newt! |
| 1 November 2008 | |||
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| Found this fellow foraging during the season's first rain storm. | |||
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| Its skin pigment may be a mutant adaptation to suit its particular environment. | |||
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| Normal looking to a California Newt, except for its skin pigment. | |||
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| I watched it for several minutes as it foraged across the forest floor. | |||
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| Like all newts, it took no notice of me and simply changed direction when I got too close. |
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| An adult male, it's interesting to speculate on the coloration of its offspring. | |||
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| Newts return to water to propogate. This fellow was at least a mile from any water source. |
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| It remained active and on the move, hard to photograph in the dim light. | |||
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| I doubt I'll ever see such an unusually marked CA Newt again. | |||
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| Leaves found in same area are remarkably similar in color to the blotched newt. | |||
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| Scores of normal looking CA Newts were also foraging in the same area. | |||
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| Note the general similiarities to the blotched newt. | |||
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CA Newts are gentle, fragile creatures that deserve to live undisturbed. |
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Returning to the car, found this large newt standing stock still in the middle of a Park's Service Road. |
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Intent on some distant objective, it allowed me to get very close to take its picture. |
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| For more on our native newts and salamanders, visit the following pages: | |||
| Pacific Giant | Arboreal | ||