Newts perform rites of spring at UC
Visit the Japanese Pool at the UC Botanical Garden this time of year, and you'll witness a strange juxtaposition.
The pool is in an idyllic setting where waterfalls trickle through boulders under rare Asian maples and rhododendrons.
In the pond itself, however, is an amphibian orgy with Coast Range and rough-skinned newts, two native salamander species, performing their rites of spring.
On our last visit, a fashion shoot was in progress, photographer and model oblivious to the underwater spectacle.
Afterward, landscape architect Kaneji Domoto, who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright, helped install the pool in the garden and fill it with water from Strawberry Creek.
Writhing clusters of suitors - newt balls - surround each female.
The species are hard to tell apart, and UC Berkeley herpetology Professor Emeritus David Wake says field marks in the standard guidebooks aren't always reliable.
According to Licht, they don't eat newts.
Each rough-skinned newt contains enough tetrodotoxin - the active ingredient in fugu fish - to kill 25,000 mice or 1 1/2 male college students.