L.A.’s newt shows signs of severe stress in drought | Sustainable LA Grand Challenge

April 20, 2016

A photo of the California newt — Taricha torosa. — In Southern California, the California newt — Taricha torosa — has been showing up at breeding grounds nearly 20 percent underweight on average. It is the largest native salamander species occurring in the Santa Monica Mountains. Photo by Connor Long.

According to new research from UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, the survival of the Tachira torosa- California’s only species of newt- is jeopardized by the state’s ongoing drought. As newts’ native marshes and creeks dry up, they emerge less from underground shelters to breed, and newts collected at breeding sites are nearly 20 percent underweight on average.