It's that time of year again...

I saw a rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) today!!! It's one of the most poisonous amphibians in the world and I got to hold it :D It's only predators are certain populations of Common Garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis), which have developed incredible resistence to tetrodotoxin. The snakes got more resistant, so the newts got more toxic. Repeat throughout the duration of the coevolutionary history of the species. Hehehe. Anyways, this little guy was pretty laid back (as is to be expected). I know he was a guy because it's breeding season, and so the males have swollen cloacas. He just sort of crawled around on my hands and rainjacket, and a couple of times he got quite a bit frustrated. He never did the full on head and tail both up in the air warning sign (which exposes the bright orange ventral portions of the animal, advertising its toxicity), but he did raise his head a few times (35-45 degree angle) and puff out his throat, which also served to display the orange on his chin (I'm assuming this was a less severe version of the warning posture). I wish I would have had my camera with me!!! But if I carried my camera everywhere in the field, the rain would just about kill it. Oh well, I get to handle an incredible Caudate species, so I'm happy :D