Living Fossil, Himalayan Newt

This year Durga Puja was a bit different. I didn’t go to pandels to see goddess Durga but went to a small mountain village to see an animal which is the only representative of its family in india. It is Himalayan Newt. Though it is not uncommon in Darjeeling Himalayas, we choose Namthing Lake as there is an established conservation site of Himalayan Newts, which greatly increases our chance of seeing one.

When we reached Namthing Pokhri, it was raining. Rain may be a disturbance for us humans but being an amphibian, it is a happy time for Himalayan Newts. We searched the lake for it but with no success. In the next day we went to the site again but this time we didn’t took chance and asked the local people for help. This time after a few minutes of searching, yes, it was there. To be truthful, in the first impression it looked very ugly.

Himalayan Newt, Tylototriton verrucosus, is an amphibian. It also has a tail. So, it looks like a hybrid between a lizard and a toad. It has a moist, warty skin, a laterally compressed tail for swimming and well developed limbs for walking. Its total length is from 130-200mm of which almost half the length is tail. It has a dark brown coloration which helps it to stay hidden in the submerged vegetation during the day. But in the breeding time the males sport a orange red belly color, which they use to attract females. It is a nocturnal animal so it comes out of water in the night to feed on the ground. It generally eats insects, earth worms, tadpoles etc. in India it is found in  North Bengal, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

Though it is a lower animal, it too has an elaborate courtship ritual. First the male shows its orange red belly color to the approaching female. Then the ritual begins. The male also calls like frogs and toads but in a lower pitch. After the ritual male grabs the female by the foreleg and stay mounted for an hour. Male then deposit a bag of sperm which the female picks up with her anal opening. Then the female lays eggs in the submerged vegetation of a stagnant pool.

One more interesting thing about this animal is its regeneration power. We all have seen how geckos lose their tail and regenerate but Himalayan Newt have gone further and can regenerate even a bitten limb.

Like all the other amphibians Himalayan Newt also hibernates in the winter season to hide from the cold weather. It generally buries itself into the soil 6” to several feet deep. But this cannot save it from the other enemies like habitat destruction, use of pesticide or the fungal infection. So the future does not look  very bright for this little creature which came to earth even before the dinosaurs.