page_title: Alpine newt
section_title: Terrestrial phase
hierarchical_section_title: Alpine newt / Lifecycle and behaviour / Terrestrial phase
caption_attribution_description: Mesotriton alpestris apuanus
context_page_description: The alpine newt is a species of newt native to continental Europe and introduced to Great Britain and New Zealand. Adults measure 7–12 cm and are usually dark grey to blue on the back and sides, with an orange belly and throat. Males are more conspicuously coloured than the drab females, especially during breeding season.
  The alpine newt occurs at high altitude as well as in the lowlands. Living mainly in forested land habitats for most of the year, the adults migrate to puddles, ponds, lakes or similar water bodies for breeding. Males court females with a ritualised display and deposit a spermatophore. After fertilisation, females usually fold their eggs into leaves of water plants. The aquatic larvae grow up to 5 cm in around three months before metamorphosing into terrestrial juvenile efts, which mature into adults at around three years. In the southern range, the newts sometimes do not metamorphose but keep their gills and stay aquatic as paedomorphic adults. Larvae and adults feed mainly on diverse invertebrates and themselves fall prey to dragonfly larvae, large beetles, fish, snakes, birds or mammals.
context_section_description: On land, alpine newts are mainly nocturnal, hiding most of the day and moving and feeding during the night or in the twighlight. Hibernation also usually takes place in terrestrial hiding places. They have been observed to climb up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) high vertical walls of basement ducts, where they hibernated, on wet nights.  Migration to breeding sites occurs on sufficiently warm (above 5 °C) and humid nights and may be delayed or interrupted for several weeks in unfavourable conditions. The newts can also leave the water again in case of a sudden cold snap.
  Alpine newts tend to stay close to their breeding sites and only a small proportion, mainly juvenile efts, disperse to new habitats. A dispersal distance of 4 km (2.5 mi) has been observed, but such large distances are uncommon. Over short distances, the newts use mainly their smell for navigation, while over long distances, orientation by the night sky, and potentially through magnetoreception are more important.
caption: Defensive position, with tail curled up
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