Newt News
—Taro Ietaka, Director of Conservation and Land Stewardship
Salamanders and newts are a favorite of both witches and children. They are colorful, slimy, and seem to have permanent grins. In fact, New York State educational administrators seem to have realized how charismatic newts are and have made them part of the kindergarten curriculum. Classrooms all over, including here in Rye, have newts as their pets and study them to learn about life cycles, habitats, and adaptations. Schools are also left with the dilemma of what to do with these wild creatures when classes are dismissed for the summer. Some local teachers have called the Rye Nature Center to ask if they can donate them or release them into the wild: good question.
Red-spotted newt (adult), photo by Brian Gratwicke
The Rye Nature Center should have a population of red-spotted newts. Nanderwhere Pond, surrounded as it is by forest and lacking a hungry fish population, should also have spotted salamanders and marbled salamanders. Unfortunately, none of those species has been recorded in the park. A one-time extended drought or pollution event during the breeding season could have wiped out any population that was here. New individuals may be prevented from moving into Nanderwhere because of the lack a migration corridor: even if there were other salamanders in Rye, development and road traffic would prevent them from reaching Nanderwhere Pond safely. In fact, the only salamander species that is commonly seen in Rye is the red-backed salamander which lives under rocks and stones and has the unusual characteristic of transforming from larva to adult while still in the egg - this allows it to avoid having to use a water body for breeding.
So, is Nanderwhere Pond a good place for kindergartens to release their red-spotted newt friends? For the reasons above, the first thought is "yes". However, releasing captive animals into the wild can end poorly in a number of ways - sometimes the animal is too accustomed to being fed and can't adapt to find its own food; sometimes the animal is released into the territory of another animal who might not appreciate the trespasser; the released animal might have diseases that it can spread to the wild population; and sometimes the animal doesn't belong in the region and can be the initiator of an alien invasion. For these reasons, the right thing to do is to get permission from the park manager before releasing a classroom pet into the wild.
Newt or Salamander—What’s the Difference?
Just as all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares, all newts are salamanders but not all salamanders are newts. The difference is that a salamander life-cycle goes from egg to larva (which looks like a tadpole) to adult. A newt has an extra "eft" phase in between larva and adult. During this time, the eft wanders the forest in a kind of teenage amphibian "rumspringa." After a few years of wandering, it enters a pond, its tail flattens, and its color changes to the final adult phase.
Red eft (newt juvenile stage), photo by Jason Quinn
