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  • sgrunstein

Kaiser Spotted Newt

Updated: Mar 7, 2022

The Kaiser Spotted Newt is a very interesting animal. It lives in the central Zagros Mountains of Iran with a circumscribed distribution area in the Lorestan and Khuzestan provinces, where it has an altitudinal range of 385-1,500 m asl. It had been known to be found in only four streams (in a single catchment area) flowing to the Cezar river but has since been discovered in more than 40 new geographical localities. This species lives in water, springs, streams, water troughs, and waterfalls. It does not leave the water.

The streams are mostly surrounded by open patches of woodland with rock outcrops. It is found within oak-pistachio open woodland areas dominated by Quercus brantti and Pistacia spp. This newt is threatened, there are a couple of reasons for this. The first is uncontrolled overharvesting for the national pet trade. Habitat degradation and destruction present the other major threat caused by deforestation, utilization of habitats for livestock, dam construction and water abstraction for domestic and agricultural uses, introduced fish species, the use of some habitats for recreational purposes and mountaineering, eco-tourism, disturbance, and pollution. The Kaiser Spotted Newt caught my eye immediately when I first saw it. The colors and patterns along its back, head, and legs are so beautiful that I had to sculpt this animal. Some things that people can do to help are to reduce, reuse, and recycle, quit plastic, drive a smaller car, drive it less, cut down on paper waste, a


nd lastly, think about every dollar you spend. These are very general things that you can do to help. Something more specific for this newt that you can do to help is to not buy this animal or give any money to industries that support the international pet trade business. This is because they are being caught and sold through these industries. Another thing you can do is donate to charities for these animals and animals like the




newt. Out of this whole project I enjoyed shaping and making my animal the most as well as seeing the end project and how my work paid off. The most challenging thing about this project was glazing the animal. Painting the different details took a very long time and was very hard to do. Because there were so many small details it took a very long time and I had to have a lot of patience that I didn’t have all of the time. I got over it by pushing through it and trying my best.



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