Tilden road closed off for newt shenanigans

Oakland Tribune, Nov 4, 2003 by Angela Hill, STAFF WRITER

BERKELEY -- A drop of rain is a newt's raw oyster.

Sure enough, the rainy season starts, and lewd newts everywhere strut on over to a favorite pond, slip into something more slimy, put on some Barry White and canoodle til the park rangers go home.

Not a problem for most newts. A big problem for newts in Tilden Park in the Berkeley hills because they have to cross a road -- and not just to get to the other side, if you know what we mean, and we think you do.

Yes, of all the creeks in all the parks in all the world, these California newts have to crawl into Wildcat Creek, but they have to cross Tilden's South Park Drive to get there.

So, being pro-newt-canoodling, East Bay Regional Park District rangers close South Park every year between Wildcat Canyon Road and Grizzly Peak Boulevard. The road will be closed from now until April 1 so the little lovers can get over to the creek and do that newt voodoo thatnewts do so well.

All this so they can make new newts that can crawl over the road and then crawl back again to make more new newts that can crawl over the road and ...

"There are thousands of newts, and they go back and forth a lot," said Steven Bobzien, park district ecological services coordinator, aka newt matchmaker. "We don't want them to get squished."

To be sure, Tilden rangers found out years ago newts weren't good at looking both ways and didn't have crossing guards because nobody makes those orange vests that small. So a lot of them ended up between tire and pavement, and the road's been shut for the mating season ever since.

Newts are a type of salamander. They're most closely related to frogs and toads, and even though their slime factor is high, these particular newts do not participate in politics.

For much of the spring and summer, the 5- to 6-inch-long newts hang out in the woods, foraging around in the leaves and rocks and not particularly paying much attention to each other in an amorous sort of way.

But then it rains. They start crossing South Park in droves, day and night, congregating at the creek. Think spring break in Miami. Newts gone wild.

As nature would have it, the overly eager males show up before the females, who of course have to decide what to wear and let their nail polish dry.

"Then when the females show up, they get mobbed, and you basically have these newt orgies," Bobzien said. "You have 50 to 60 males around one or two females. It's literally a newt ball."

When the fun is over, the females lay their eggs -- a cluster of eggs in a clear gelatinous glob the size of a pingpong ball, which attaches to vegetation. Eeew.

Apparently, that's such a turnoff that most of the newts get the heck outta Dodge and start crossing the street again to go back to the woods.

"They want to get out of there," Bobzien said. "Especially the females. Probably because they don't want to get mobbed again.

"Sometimes, some males stay lingering around," he said. "Sometimes even into the summer. I guess it's the ones that didn't get any action. They're up at the bar hoping someone will come along."

In the meantime, the newbie newts are coming to life. About 20 days after the eggs are laid, they hatch. They start off with gills, breathing in the water and swimming around for a while. Then they morph into adult newts and head out into the world. And across the road.

Through all this, newts don't seem to mind voyeurs as long as you let them do their thing, rangers say. You can walk along South Park and check out the scene. Just don't step on them. And don't handle them. They're pretty poisonous, so if you do touch them, wash your hands thoroughly.

and rangers reaffirm the summertime truism: No newts is good newts.