Unusual Winter Activity Observations of Two Newt Species (Ommatotriton ophryticus & Triturus ivanbureschi) from the Anatolian Peninsula

Interactions between the internal regulation and the environment drive thebiophysiological patterns of amphibians. It is well known phenomenon that newts in the northernhemisphere are tend to have hibernation strategies in winter seasons. However, the winter activityrecord for newts is quite rare. Therefore, we would like to report two winter activity cases fromAnatolia, Turkey via two newt species: The northern banded newt (Ommatotriton ophryticus) fromOrdu and Balkan crested newt (Triturus ivanbureschi) from Çanakkale. The striking outcomes ofthis study are that the Northern Banded Newt demonstrates winter activity from another localityapart from Trabzon, and the Balkan Crested Newt has been observed in winter for the first time inits natural habitat. However, it is more important that to document these winter activities areremarkable to provide valuable preliminary data for interpreting the global climate changedynamics in local cases.