Taricha granulosa
Silhouette: Neil Kelley · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The rough-skinned newt or roughskin newt (Taricha granulosa) is a North American newt known for the strong toxin exuded from its skin. A stocky newt with rounded snout, it ranges from light brown to olive or brownish-black on top, with the underside, including the head, legs, and tail, a contrasting orange to yellow. The skin is granular, but males are smooth-skinned during breeding season. They measure 6 to 9 cm (2.4 to 3.5 in) in snout-to-vent length, and 11 to 18 cm (4.3 to 7.1 in) overall. They are similar to the California newt (Taricha torosa) but differ in having smaller eyes, yellow irises, V-shaped tooth patterns, and uniformly dark eyelids. Males can be distinguished from females during breeding season by large swollen vent lobes and cornified toe pads.
Rough-skinned newts are found throughout the Pacific Northwest. Their range extends south to Santa Cruz, California, and north to Alaska. They are uncommon east of the Cascade Mountains, though occasionally are found (and considered exotic, and possibly artificially introduced) as far as Montana. One isolated population lives in several ponds just north of Moscow, Idaho, and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northwest Trek Wildlife Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Oregon Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | British Columbia Wildlife Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Vancouver Aquarium | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Aquário Vasco da Gama | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 6 | Aquarium of the Bay | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Rough-skinned Newt sighting in Olympic National Park on a given day, based on 124 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 13 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Rough-skinned Newt in Olympic National Park on a given day, against under 5% in December and January, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rough-skinned Newt sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Rough-skinned Newt sightings, Olympic National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Redwood National Park (United States, about 40%).
Same order: Caudata
The closest relatives of the Rough-skinned Newt that you can see in Olympic National Park (order Caudata, Salamanders) are Western Red-backed Salamander (about 20%), Olympic Salamander (about 10%) and Ensatina (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rough-skinned Newt is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Olympic National Park (124 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
