Two little orange cuties we saw on our hike. We almost always see the first one. It's a red eft, actually the juvenile form of the red-spotted newt. They are SO cute- one of our favorite finds. The adults are olive-green and live in the water. By then, they have no legs, and grow a much larger tail.
This one looks similar, but you can see they are not the same. This one has no spots. It has dark sides, with much more prominent grooves. Can you see how moist this one is? Bits of dirt and bark are even stuck to it. That's a real difference. The eft has dry, slightly rough skin. This is a red back salamander. Sorry about the hairy backdrop... it's Larry's arm.
Salamanders have no lungs, but breathe through their skin and the lining of the mouth, so they have to keep moist. They come out mostly at night. Newts are much more likely to be seen because they taste bad, and most predators leave them alone.
This is fun to see. I would love to find a newt or a salamander. I haven't learned how to find them quite yet.
ReplyDeleteWow, a baby dragon :-)
ReplyDeleteNo way would I want that thing crawling on me....ewwwwwwwwww
ReplyDeleteI loved looking at the blue iguana's when we were in Aruba, from a distance, but in general...not a fan of anything that creeps and crawls.
Cool photos of these interesting critters. I learned something new about them. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNice photos of the fauna, Larry's arm not included.
ReplyDeleteI love newts. It pays to be bad-tasting, lol.
ReplyDeletewell they are very cool to look at but only so long as they stay on Larry's arm and not on mine
ReplyDeleteOh, I like little guys like that!! I especially like the orange one. :)
ReplyDeleteRatty- any moist forest should be a good place for the eft. You need to turn over rocks at night to usually find salamanders. This one was hiding under rocks lining the fire circle, and scrambled out when I lit the fire.
ReplyDeleteJohn- I know! Aren't they awesome?
Sandy- they aren't icky... they only tickle.
Jean- I'm glad- they are so cute.
vanilla- I was busy getting the fire going or I would have thought harder about getting a more natural looking picture
Ivy- They really are endearing!
Ann- Aw... they are friendly, don't bite, just kind of tickle and are impossibly cute. You'd like 'em.
Lin- I KNEW you would be a fan!
We do not see many these days - use to see lots when we were young and pond dipping, they are protected over here. As you probably guessed I love them.
ReplyDeleteI'm like Sandy, I'm not crazy about creepy crawlies. I remember having a picnic with a friend on the grass of a government building where he worked in San Juan, Puerto Rico and we were nearly accosted by giant iguanas ( well, they were pretty darn large ) - and they weren't at all bashful.
ReplyDeleteThey are very interesting!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad that was Larry's arm! LOL