Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XLVIII · Topic 4: Batrachian study: toads, frogs and newts
48. The newt, eft, or "salamander"
Goal: Your child can describe the little red eft and explain how the newt changes its form three times, from water to land and back to water.
You'll need
- A walk in damp woods after a summer rain, or a pond with newts
- A hand lens
- A small net and white dishpan (for pond newts)
- Nature notebook and an orange colored pencil
What's in the book
The leading thought (newts change form three times), the method (keep the orange eft in an aquarium with a stone or moss above the water; feed small earthworms) and eleven questions about its color and spots, eyes, nostrils and throat, legs and toes, how it walks, its tail, how it acts when startled, why it appears in wet weather, its food and skin, its eggs, and its changes of color and form.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
In the eastern United States, look for bright orange red efts walking on the wet forest floor on rainy or damp summer days, often on trails. Adult newts (olive-green with red spots) live in ponds all year. In the West there are other kinds of newts.
Amphibians breathe partly through their damp skin, so sunscreen, soap or bug spray on our hands can hurt them. If you must hold one, wet your clean hands first, hold it gently and low over the ground for a minute or two, then put it back where you found it. Wash your hands with soap afterward, and keep them away from eyes and mouth until you do. Newts and efts have mild poison in their skin, so washing hands matters even more. Leave them where you find them.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The newts change their form three times to fit different modes of life. They are born in the water and at first have fins and gills like fishes. They then live on land, and have lungs for breathing air and lose their fins; later they go back to the water
Spots
Crouch down beside an eft on the trail; it moves slowly, so you can look without picking it up.
Look at the eft closely. Is it all the same color? How many spots upon its back and what colors are they? Are there the same number of spots on both sides?
How it walks
Does it move more than one foot at a time when walking? Does it use the feet on the same side in two consecutive steps? After putting forward the right front foot what foot follows next?
Watch carefully; then let your child try walking on hands and knees the same way.
Tail and eyes
Is the tail as long as the head and body together? Is the tail round or flat at the sides?
Describe the eyes, the shape and color of the pupil and of the iris.
Raining efts?
Why do we find these creatures only during wet weather? Why do people think they rain down?
Talk about it: they come out from hiding when the ground is wet, so it looks as if they fell with the rain.
Put it into words
How many times during its life does the orange eft change color? What part of its life is spent upon land?
Let your child try to tell the whole life story: egg in the pond, gilled larva, orange eft on land, green newt back in the pond. Then share the leading thought.
Nature notebook
Draw the three stages in a circle: the larva with feathery gills, the orange eft, the olive water newt with its flat tail. Count and draw the spots exactly.
Afterwards
On the next rainy summer day, take a slow walk on a woodland trail and count efts. Step carefully; they are easy to step on.
Tip
Comstock's title puts "salamander" in quotation marks because people used the word loosely. Newts are one kind of salamander.