Rough-skinned Newt

Its skin contains tetrodotoxin, but the greatest danger comes from swallowing the animal or transferring toxin into the mouth, eyes, or a wound. People should avoid handling Taricha granulosa and wash exposed skin rather than treating it as a pet.

When threatened, it may curve its head and tail upward in a defensive posture called the unken reflex. The bright orange underside serves as warning coloration advertising its toxic skin.

Some populations of the common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, have sodium-channel mutations that make them resistant to tetrodotoxin. The escalating newt toxicity and snake resistance are a well-known example of a coevolutionary arms race.

Their range follows western North America from Alaska and British Columbia through the Pacific Northwest into California. Adults often live in forests and migrate to ponds, lakes, or slow water to breed.