We went on a "herp walk" led by Ranger Anthony Bavilacqua today...not very good weather for it; it took some work to find even a single fence lizard. But, we did go to see the California Newts living locally. There aren't a lot of these guys around, and our lack of water has concentrated them into a few small areas. They only spend the breeding season in the water, preferring to stay dry the rest of the year.
These guys are toxic-the poison is similar to poison dart frogs and pufferfish. You have to eat them to be affected, so don't eat them-simple. Garter snakes DO eat them, and they have evolved a tolerance to the poison, which has made the newts become MORE poisonous, which selects for snakes with greater resistance, and so on. As a result, these newts produce are a lot more poisonous than would be necessary to kill any other possible predator they might meet.
This was pretty hard to shoot, underwater with a bright sky, but there it is.
This one was tougher-underneath a huge boulder.
Not related to reptiles at all, but I can't resist these-Phacelia Grandiflora, or large flowered phacelia.
These guys are toxic-the poison is similar to poison dart frogs and pufferfish. You have to eat them to be affected, so don't eat them-simple. Garter snakes DO eat them, and they have evolved a tolerance to the poison, which has made the newts become MORE poisonous, which selects for snakes with greater resistance, and so on. As a result, these newts produce are a lot more poisonous than would be necessary to kill any other possible predator they might meet.
This was pretty hard to shoot, underwater with a bright sky, but there it is.
This one was tougher-underneath a huge boulder.
Not related to reptiles at all, but I can't resist these-Phacelia Grandiflora, or large flowered phacelia.
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