Do great crested newts ever hibernate under water ?

[jonny.go.go]

While on holiday near the Lake district around 7 years ago during Xmas my kids were pond dipping in a fairly remote location. They caught something unusual and shouted for me to take a look. There were 2 quite large cigar shaped objects around 6 inches long in the net, looking closer I could see that they were in fact newts but seemed to have a lot of slime/mucous covering the body. They did not appear to be rotting and I am sure they were alive,just inactive due to the low temperature. The pond is quite deep and they were returned almost immediately. Unfortunately I had no camera.

I thought all newts hibernate on land and only frogs can hibernate under water, does anyone know different, this has bugged me for years.

Great site by the way.

Jonny

[aeshna5]

Johnny, like you I think of newts as terrestrial hibernators. Looking in the most recent New Naturalist book on Amphibians + Reptiles (3rd different book in series on these beasts) by Trevor Beebee + Richard Griffiths, this does appear to be the norm for newts, though there is reference (1951) of a pond at Blenheim Palace, where the steep sides prevent newts leaving + these overwintered in pond successfully. Thus your experience does appear to be unusual (perhaps a bit overlooked?) though not unprecedented. Interesting observation! And I thoroughly recommend you have a look at the book- it's excellent.

The chapter also says that this species is more of a bottom dweller than the other 2 native newt species + tends to remain in water later in the season too.

[jonny.go.go]

Thanks for the quick response Aeshna, the pond in question is not natural and has steep sides made of brick, looks like it may have been some sort of ventilation shaft maybe in the past. A small shallow pond fed by a spring frequented by common newts drains into it.

Will try to get access to the literature you mentioned , allways wondered if we had stumbled upon something truly unusual.

Cheers

Jonny

[Grrrrrr]

If it helps I've seen both newts and frogs do both. Life's always a lot greyer than you think!