Typical forest amphibian. It lives in mixed and deciduous forests (up to 1350 m above sea-level), their glades and edges, in bushlands, meadows, parks and gardens.
   Reproduction occurs in stagnant and, rarely in semi-flowing waters such as ponds, flooded quarries, lakes.
A large newt. Body paunchy, head wide, tail long, total body length up to 19 cm. Skin rough with large granules. Dorsal and lateral surfaces black or brownish-black with dark spots; numerous white points on body flanks. Belly yellow to orange with black, usually unfused spots; tail with lateral longitudinal blue-white band.
   During the breeding season, the male has a deeply notched middorsal crest which extends from the level of eyes to the base of tail end unnotched crest on the tail.
Reproduction period: April - May.
   The female of the Great Crested Newt tucks each egg or a few eggs into a leaf during oviposition. Clutch consists of usually 150 - 200 eggs, which are deposited singly or in chains of 2 - 3 eggs. Embryogenesis takes 12 - 20 days. About half of the eggs fail to hatch due to inherent fault at their development. Just after hatching, the larvae live on the bottom, on aquatic plants, or other substrates. Afterwards, they switch to a mainly pelagic life after developing high fin folds, caudal filaments and long toes and fingers.
   Adult newts sometimes display cannibalism and often consume other amphibians, especially at larval and juvenile stages of development. Frequent consumption of vertebrate prey is typical for crested newts, the largest of the aquatic salamanders in Europe.