Great Crested Newt

• Its skin produces a milky, acrid secretion that works as a chemical defence against predators.
• It eats aquatic invertebrates, tadpoles and even small newts.
• It is the largest newt in Great Britain, living in large fish-free ponds.
• In spring the male grows a tall, jagged dorsal crest that gives him the look of a dragon, and with it he performs an elaborate courtship dance in front of the female, fanning pheromones towards her with his tail.
• There is no contact: the male deposits a spermatophore on the bottom and guides the female to it.
• The female wraps each egg, one by one, in an aquatic leaf she folds with her hind legs. She can spend weeks doing it.
• Half of its eggs always die from an inherited chromosomal abnormality that cannot be eliminated: a genetic burden fixed in the species.
• It is strictly protected throughout the European Union under the Habitats Directive, and in the United Kingdom its presence shapes public works projects.
• It needs fish-free ponds, because fish prey on its larvae, and that requirement explains much of its decline.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)

Habitat & environment

Large fish-free ponds and the woodland around them in Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and western Siberia

Birth weight

A tiny larva on hatching, each wrapped in the leaf of a water plant

Size at birth

Tiny at hatching

Sexual maturity

2-4 years (after 1-2 years as a larva)

Gestation / incubation

14-35 days of egg development

Litter / clutch size

~200-225 eggs per female, each wrapped in the leaf of a water plant

Lifespan in captivity

Documented record of up to 28 years in captivity

Sources consulted: AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); National Geographic; DU Waterscapes; Animalia.bio; EBSCO Research Starters; Kintbury Eco Centre; Wikipedia (Northern crested newt); The Animal Facts; JNCC