Red-spotted newts. It was easier to photograph this four-inch salamander than to explain why it’s called a “newt.”

A main difference is that other members of the salamander family have sets of grooves on the underside. Newts lack these furrows, called “costal” grooves, and unlike other salamanders have dry skins.

The skins of red spotted newts also secrete strong poisons, which protect the species against predators. And rather than evolve dark colors that act as camouflage in the forest leaf litter, young adults, called “red efts,” display gaudy orange skin trimmed with red dots, as in the picture.

“Beware of my orange color,” they warn. “Orange means I taste bad.”

Another unique adaptation is that red eft adults live entirely on land—mainly in the woods— for three to seven years, until maturing into greenish brown adults, which return to water to breed and remain for good.

It’s plausible that a land-dwelling, red eft stage evolved in response to periods of extreme drought, when forest pools dried up.