#newt — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Jim Easterbrook @jim_easterbrook · 2026-05-28 · 21:02 UTC

Saw about half a dozen damselflies around my pond earlier today. Some red and some blue. No identification as they're too quick for me. A couple of pairs were flying around in tandem, then the male settled on a plant stem and brief copulation ensued.

The big question is are damselfly larvae food for newt larvae (a good thing) or are newt larvae food for damselfly larvae (a bad thing).

Yes, I have pro-newt bias.

#Newt #Pond #Damselfly

#newt #pond #damselfly

My camera shoots fascists @[email protected] · 2026-05-23 · 05:25 UTC

CW: Eww, grotty newts half eaten by otters.

2/2
For years, I've been finding headless newts and have assumed that it was otters eating them. This day, I found a bunch of freshly dismembered newts, so fresh that their headless bodies were still wriggling when touched.

This time, the otter was pretty conclusively the culprit, but why just eat the heads and why the dismemberment? Tails and feet were chewed off, but the only parts that seem to have been eaten were the heads. (More info in alt text.)

The newts' orange coloring is a form of aposematism, i.e. a warning mechanism that says "hey, I'm really nasty to eat so don't bother!" They are poisonous to most predators.

But are the heads less poisonous? Are they not poisonous to otters? And if they're not going to eat them, why chop the newts' bodies up so badly. Are they maybe like house cats that just like to hunt for "sport" and play with their prey to death?

Any #WildlifeBiologist or #herpetologist have any thoughts?

#herpetology #newt #otter

#wildlifebiologist #herpetologist #herpetology #newt #otter

My camera shoots fascists @[email protected] · 2026-05-23 · 05:25 UTC

CW: Eww, grotty newts half eaten by otters.

2/2
For years, I've been finding headless newts and have assumed that it was otters eating them. This day, I found a bunch of freshly dismembered newts, so fresh that their headless bodies were still wriggling when touched.

This time, the otter was pretty conclusively the culprit, but why just eat the heads and why the dismemberment? Tails and feet were chewed off, but the only parts that seem to have been eaten were the heads. (More info in alt text.)

The newts' orange coloring is a form of aposematism, i.e. a warning mechanism that says "hey, I'm really nasty to eat so don't bother!" They are poisonous to most predators.

But are the heads less poisonous? Are they not poisonous to otters? And if they're not going to eat them, why chop the newts' bodies up so badly. Are they maybe like house cats that just like to hunt for "sport" and play with their prey to death?

Any #WildlifeBiologist or #herpetologist have any thoughts?

#herpetology #newt #otter

#wildlifebiologist #herpetologist #herpetology #newt #otter

My camera shoots fascists @[email protected] · 2026-05-23 · 05:25 UTC

CW: Eww, grotty newts half eaten by otters.

2/2
For years, I've been finding headless newts and have assumed that it was otters eating them. This day, I found a bunch of freshly dismembered newts, so fresh that their headless bodies were still wriggling when touched.

This time, the otter was pretty conclusively the culprit, but why just eat the heads and why the dismemberment? Tails and feet were chewed off, but the only parts that seem to have been eaten were the heads. (More info in alt text.)

The newts' orange coloring is a form of aposematism, i.e. a warning mechanism that says "hey, I'm really nasty to eat so don't bother!" They are poisonous to most predators.

But are the heads less poisonous? Are they not poisonous to otters? And if they're not going to eat them, why chop the newts' bodies up so badly. Are they maybe like house cats that just like to hunt for "sport" and play with their prey to death?

Any #WildlifeBiologist or #herpetologist have any thoughts?

#herpetology #newt #otter

#wildlifebiologist #herpetologist #herpetology #newt #otter

My camera shoots fascists @[email protected] · 2026-05-23 · 05:25 UTC

CW: Eww, grotty newts half eaten by otters.

2/2
For years, I've been finding headless newts and have assumed that it was otters eating them. This day, I found a bunch of freshly dismembered newts, so fresh that their headless bodies were still wriggling when touched.

This time, the otter was pretty conclusively the culprit, but why just eat the heads and why the dismemberment? Tails and feet were chewed off, but the only parts that seem to have been eaten were the heads. (More info in alt text.)

The newts' orange coloring is a form of aposematism, i.e. a warning mechanism that says "hey, I'm really nasty to eat so don't bother!" They are poisonous to most predators.

But are the heads less poisonous? Are they not poisonous to otters? And if they're not going to eat them, why chop the newts' bodies up so badly. Are they maybe like house cats that just like to hunt for "sport" and play with their prey to death?

Any #WildlifeBiologist or #herpetologist have any thoughts?

#herpetology #newt #otter

#otter #newt #herpetology #herpetologist #wildlifebiologist

My camera shoots fascists @[email protected] · 2026-05-23 · 05:25 UTC

CW: Eww, grotty newts half eaten by otters.

2/2
For years, I've been finding headless newts and have assumed that it was otters eating them. This day, I found a bunch of freshly dismembered newts, so fresh that their headless bodies were still wriggling when touched.

This time, the otter was pretty conclusively the culprit, but why just eat the heads and why the dismemberment? Tails and feet were chewed off, but the only parts that seem to have been eaten were the heads. (More info in alt text.)

The newts' orange coloring is a form of aposematism, i.e. a warning mechanism that says "hey, I'm really nasty to eat so don't bother!" They are poisonous to most predators.

But are the heads less poisonous? Are they not poisonous to otters? And if they're not going to eat them, why chop the newts' bodies up so badly. Are they maybe like house cats that just like to hunt for "sport" and play with their prey to death?

Any #WildlifeBiologist or #herpetologist have any thoughts?

#herpetology #newt #otter

#wildlifebiologist #herpetologist #herpetology #newt #otter

Jim Easterbrook @jim_easterbrook · 2026-05-18 · 17:18 UTC