Birds, Bugs & Amphibians

Emperor Newt

Tylototriton shanjing

Animal Class:
Amphibians

Diet:
Omnivore

Status in the Wild:
Vulnerable

Deceivingly Beautiful

These newts have striking orange nodes on their back which mark the location of poison glands beneath the skin. Although it is not the emperor newts’ first defense, if all else fails, they can trigger the release of a toxic chemical simply by expanding their rib cage.

Hot Commodity

Over harvesting for traditional medicine, international pet trade, and habitat loss and degradation are all threatening factors to these amphibians.

You can see Emperor Newts in the Zoo’s Creepy Crawlers exhibit.

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