Jeffrey Munn, age 13, of Fredericton, N.B., Can., for his question:
HOW CAN A NEWT LIVE BOTH IN AND OUT OF WATER?
Most of the pretty little newts make charming pets. However, they need a terrarium home equipped with a patch of dry land and a private pool. There should be a few stones, some land plants and waterweeds. The adults loll around on the land but the amazing critters also seem equally comfortable in and under the water.
The newt is an amphibian of the salamander group, which means that he belongs to both land and water. He hatches from a round, jellified egg attached to a waterweed. For the next three or four months he is a fishy tadpole, without legs and with gills for extracting dissolved oxygen from the water. He is longer and wrigglier than the tadpoles of his tailless cousins, the frogs and toads. And a newt tadpole may be a delicate green or some other pastel color.
Toward the end of summer his gills are replaced by air breathing lungs. He grows small, rather weak legs, but he keeps his tail. In most cases, he becomes a pinkish brown eft, all set to venture onto the dry land. Unlike the frogs, he cannot use his hands to stuff food into his mouth. But, if one of his weak legs is lost, by some personal miracle he can regrow it.
Though equipped with lungs, he still is an amphibian gifted with an amphibian's special skin. When he goes below, this most remarkable skin absorbs dissolved oxygen from the water. He does not have to hold his breath and come up for air. Instead, he can stay below for an indefinite period. However, he is an expert swimmer and, when very active, he usually comes up now and then to gulp a breath into his lungs.
After two or three years the little red eft becomes a mature newt. He sheds his skin and usually comes forth in handsome spots and blotches. This is when he returns to the water to produce eggs for the next generation. He may stay in the water for several months.
Though most newts are quite harmless pets, some of the crested species bear nasty poisons. Recently, it was discovered that the larger California newt also has a poisonous substance in his skin and blood. Naturally this air and water breather is not on the list of recommended pets.