Saturday, May 27, 2006

Texas Newts (Why Google isn't always the best choice)

Last year, I posted this picture of a newt that I saw while driving down the freeway here in Texas. At the time, I said that Newts are not native to Texas. I must confess, I made no attempts at research before posting that tidbit, and reader “cath” was kind enough to correct me:
two kinds of newts are native to tx.


* Notophthalmus meridionalis (Black-spotted Newt)

* Notophthalmus viridescens (Eastern Newt) 

http://www.zo.utexas.edu/research/txherps/salamanders/

how the heck did you see that little thing while driving on the freeway?

How the heck indeed Cath. Call it “mad eyeball skills”. Or call it a lie. The fact is, a reader requested a macro photo of a newt, and I delivered. Another reader has requested a photo of some Puerto Rican girls at a lighthouse. That’s a tougher one, but I’ll do what I can. Watch this space for more details.

Anyway, back to Cath. Looking back at my referral logs as to how Cath found my photo to begin with, I discovered that Google led her here. What was the search string that she used? “texas newt translucent”. And if you type that into Google, who is the top hit? Your’s truly. I feel bad for the dozens of people who have, in the course of serious, scientific research, have stumbled here and found a photo of a non-Texan Newt. So there you have it. Perhaps Google should look over their algorithms or something.

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