Ring In the Newt! Trivia Quiz

Answer: laying eggs

A newt can lay one or a few hundred at one time depending on the species. Likewise, during each breeding season, they will lay hundreds of eggs. For example, the Spanish newt lays about twenty eggs at one time, and anywhere from 100-1000 during the season.

Answer: metamorphosis

The newt's metamorphosis is not as great as a frog's because during its larvae stage it is already a predator.

The newt starts as an egg. After a few weeks the egg hatches, and a larva comes out with gills for breathing underwater. It then becomes an eft or a juvenile newt. (Not all newts go through this stage, for example, the Spanish newt does not). In two or three years these efts will become mature adults.

Answer: Salamandridae

All newts are salamanders; however, not all salamanders are newts. Newts have a subfamily called the Pleurodelinae. This is all the different newts. Newts usually have webbed feet whereas salamanders are more developed for land use. The newt's tail is more like a beaver's shape, which is like an oar to make it useful on water. A salamander's tail is more rounded.

Answer: False

Most newts live mainly on dry land, but not all. The alligator newt in Japan lives primarily in the wetlands such as marshes and swamps. The eastern red-spotted newt, which is found in North America, lives in ponds and lakes for the most part.

Answer: regeneration

If a newt loses a leg it can regenerate that, but it can also regenerate an eye. The newt can regenerate limbs and other body parts all of its life. The coolest of all is if a newt's heart is partially destroyed, it can also regenerate that.

Answer: carnivorous

Newts are meat-eaters. They start eating meat in the larvae stage where they will eat small shrimp and insect larvae. As they get older they eat slugs, insects, tadpoles, amphibian eggs, and mollusks.

Answer: They laid eggs in space.

They were called "astronewts." The females were induced so they would lay the eggs while in space. While in orbit they were, of course, exposed to things such as lower gravity. When they eventually returned to Earth it was found they were okay, and, although they had some pathological changes to their organs, the adults survived the trip.

Answer: Hibernate

They usually hibernate under logs or stone piles during the winter. Some will sleep at the bottom of a pond as well. They usually hibernate from mid-October until February or March.

Answer: garter snakes

Only garter snakes that live in the same geographical area as the newts have this ability. Outsiders will die just like all the other animals that attempt to eat the newt. The newt itself is not venomous so if it bites you it won't be an issue, but its skin produces highly lethal toxins if ingested. I suggest you do not lick any newts you find.

One species has a special method of defending itself. The Spanish ribbed newt can move its ribs so that they can break through the skin and stab the predator like a little sword. Then, on top of that, the ribs are poisoned just like the skin so the poison goes directly into the animal.

Answer: Yes

The loss of habitat is one of the biggest causes reasons for newts dying. They are semi-aquatic animals, so with the loss of ponds, lakes, rivers, marshes, etc, they have fewer places to live. Without this, only the adults can survive on the land, and the youth in the larvae stage half have water.

Other things that kill newts are: preditors, extreme weather conditons, dehydration in the summer, disease, and pollution.

If they surivive all that and die of natural causes, a newt can live between 6-14 years in the wild.