Animal · United Kingdom, Germany, Poland
Great crested newt
Triturus cristatus — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The great crested newt is the largest newt in northern Europe, a dark, warty amphibian with a bright orange belly covered in black blotches. In spring the males grow a jagged crest.
Picture credit: Korall (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Bouke ten Cate (CC BY 4.0) · Holger Krisp (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the great crested newt live?
Home: Fish-free ponds and damp woodland across northern Europe.
In the wild it lives in these countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Sweden, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Romania.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown: 13-16 cm long, females larger than males. It weighs about 0.01 kilograms. On the menu: meat.
The story behind it
For most of the year this newt lives on land, hiding by day under logs and stones and creeping out at night to hunt worms, slugs and beetles. In March, when the nights stay above about five degrees, it walks back to the pond where it was born. The males then grow a high, wavy crest along the back and tail and dance in front of a female, fanning scent towards her with a flick of the tail. The eggs are laid one by one and wrapped in a folded leaf. A pond with fish is no good, because fish eat the larvae. Every newt has its own pattern of black blotches on its orange belly, as unique as a fingerprint, and researchers use photographs of bellies to tell individuals apart.
Find it on the globe
Great crested newt is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
Why do male great crested newts have a crest?
Only in the breeding season, to impress females. The male stands in front of one, arches his back to show off the crest and flicks scent towards her with his tail. Once spring is over the crest shrinks away again.
Is the great crested newt protected?
Yes, strictly. In most European countries it is against the law to catch, harm or disturb one, or to fill in the ponds it breeds in. Builders often have to move newts to a new pond before work can start.
Where does a great crested newt spend the winter?
On land, not in the water. It crawls under a log, a pile of stones or into a mouse hole close to its pond and rests there until the nights turn mild again in early spring.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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