The waters of the Japanese Pool are clear and inviting, surrounded by the large tree rhododendrons and azalea bushes. Each year the winter rains prompt the newts to migrate to the Garden’s Japanese Pool where their mating behaviors can be easily observed by visitors. At any time of day or night and in all weather, the males can be seen either cruising for a mate or holding her in a firm embrace.
The egg masses appear on lily stems and other vegetation. While the California newt migration to the pool is a regular winter event, one never grows tired of watching them.
The Garden is home to two newt species, California newt (Taricha torosa) and rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa). The adults are difficult to distinguish even to the trained eye, but their egg masses are distinctive. The clear gelatinous balls with distinctive eggs that are most easily seen are those of T. torosa. As the season progresses, it is easy to watch these little round eggs develop into the small larval newts that will hatch in a few weeks. The adults will gradually leave the water over the next few months and move back into the Garden, hopefully, to return next year and for many years after.
If you’d like to learn more about our Garden newts, here is a podcast
by former Garden Director Emeritus, Paul Licht.
Paul Licht began his career as a zoology professor at UC Berkeley. When presenting him with the Berkeley Citation, his colleagues noted “his research into the factors that determine sexual differentiation, sexual maturation and reproductive physiology in a wide variety of species-including amphibians, reptiles, and mammals-has resulted in more than 300 publications and has made him one of most respected comparative endocrinologists in the world.”
Further Reading About Newts
April, 2023, Newts Take the Stage During Annual Mating Ritual at the UC Garden, by Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley News
Newts perform rites of spring at UC by Joe Eaton and Ron Sullivan, San Francisco Chronicle
An Extraordinary Time-Lapse Captures the Microscopic Development of a Single Cell into a Newt Kate Sierzputowski, Colossal