What is a Newt?

In all of the hyperbole surrounding Newt Gingrich’s storming victory over Mitt Romney in South Carolina, little or no attention has so far been given to the slippery amphibian that bares the same name as the far Right Republican President wannabee.

Readers may therefore be somewhat surprised at the startling resemblance of one Newt to another;

‘A Newt is an aquatic amphibian and is found in North America.  The adult Newt has a lizard-like body and may be either fully aquatic, living permanently in the water, or semi-aquatic, living terrestrially but returning to the water each year to breed.

A Newt has the ability to regeneratelimbs, eyes, spinal cords, hearts, intestines, and upper and lower jaws. The main breeding season for the Newt is between the months of June and July. After courtship rituals of varying complexity, which take place in ponds or slow moving streams, the Newt transfers a spermatophore which is taken up by the female. The Newt produce toxins in its skin secretions as a defense mechanism against predators. The Newt of western North America is particularly toxic. The Rough-skinned Newt  produces more than enough tetrodotoxin to kill an adult human.’

Remember, you read it here first (well, with apologies to Wikipedia)