The Newts being Lizards problem

[Azhael]

It amazes me how caudates are so frequently ignored. I had never heard that one though, "vesilisko"(basilisco for spanish people xD), here it is either a mythological creature or a south american lizard.
I´ve lived my life with the stigma of knowing what a newt is xDDDD I´ve even heard classmates (i study biology) call a pleurodeles, a "weird aquatic lizard", during some laboratory practices....very sad xD
There´s also a lot of myth and completely wrong information about these animals...i remember when i was a kid catching newts in the river, people would tell me to throw them away, because they were very poisonous. Newts and salamanders are also sometimes killed because they are thought to be dangerous.
And my favourite one(which is what Lims commented)...confusing newts with geckos xD Here we call a local species of gecko, "salamanquesa", and guess with what are they commonly confused. I´ve seen dozens of posts about people finding a salamander climbing the wall in the garage.
I wonder why such colourful, amazing animals are unnoticed by most people (and text books, and documentaries, and schools...)....

 

[aramcheck]

There´s also a lot of myth and completely wrong information about these animals...i remember when i was a kid catching newts in the river, people would tell me to throw them away, because they were very poisonous. Newts and salamanders are also sometimes killed because they are thought to be dangerous.

I grew up in Dordogne, and many people there had simillar views. Newts and Salamanders would be destroyed because they "can kill 50 people with one bite". Snakes and Slow Worm would be stoned to death, well just for being snakes . (by the way did any of you heard that persitent rumour of 'ecologists dropping adders from helicopters, everyone -including my biology teacher- was conviced of that one). I got into so many fights as a kid with people destroying herps (or owls, they get nailed to barns to ward off the evil eye!!!!).
I hope things have changed over there, but I am not holding my breath.