The Italian Crested Newt – Triturus carnifex – eats anything and everything it can overpower. Earthworms, mosquito larvae and water fleas are on its menu, but also snails, small fish and even its own offspring. A research team led by Dr. Egon Heiss of Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany) has studied the newt’s chewing behaviour and has made an astounding discovery.