Not easy, but the RAUK link mentions a hybrid that revisited a garden pond for several consecutive years, let's pray
Yes, I read that. It also says:
I never saw it displaying to a female during my many torching sessions of the pond ,often there were females in close proximity to it but they were always ignorned . Maybe it didn't look and smell right to the females or it somehow lacked the urge.
If the hybrids are not able to breed and don't even have the urge to do so why are they going back to the same pond every year?
Could it be that the main reason for newts to return to the same pond in which they've been born is just that it is likely to be the closest body of water to their hibernation spot (they don't have a huge home range) = they are drawn to the water mainly to spend their aquatic phase there and mate meanwhile, rather than the mating being the main incentive? This would be very odd though since I guess the aquatic phase itself evolved as an answer to their need to breed in water. But if the mating is the only reason why would a sterile individual do it?
