This is a beautiful Luristan newt showing off its lovely colours.

Today I want to write about a very colourful little newt called the Luristan newt.

Here are five interesting facts about them:

1. These beautiful little newts are also known as Kaiser’s spotted newts and only grow to 13 cm long.
2. Their bright colours warn predators that they have toxic skin and they can also produce a bad smell when disturbed.
3. Luristan newts live in very dry areas where there is only water for about three months of the year, so they burrow underground where it is cooler and more humid during the long, hot summer to sleep.  This is called estivation, which is the opposite of hibernation which is what happens when an animal sleeps during winter.
4. When on land, they crawl like lizards and when in water they are very good swimmers.  They eat small invertebrates.
5. Luristan newts are only found in the Luristan region of Iran and are considered critically endangered due to habitat loss, droughts and poaching for the pet trade.  There are captive breeding programs in a few zoos which hopefully will save them from extinction.

I hope that you found these facts interesting and learned something new.

Are there any other interesting facts that you would like to share about Luristan newts?