I also handled these all the time as a kid in northern Oregon, literally hundreds in a day because they would hang out in a series of lakes nearby. Is there a non-poisonous rough-skinned newt variant? I find it impossible to believe that as a young kid I wouldn’t have licked my fingers after years of doing this.
few more generations of handling these lil friends and maybe we can get aposematic coloring in humans
Maybe we’re already in the afterlife. How would we know any different, really? Bested by newts
I'm not aware of other newt species in their range that look similar.
I do think the article plays up their toxicity some. There's only one reported human fatality I could find, from some dipshit who ate one on a dare. If you handle them gently and don't stuff your entire hand in your mouth immediately after, I suspect you're fine.