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Highland Newt Boy Taken World by Storm

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Callum Ullman-Smith proves young genius still exists with his study of Palmate newts.
 
Photo; Callum Ullman-Smith with best friend Smudge, playing on an x-box 360 in his family home.
In recent times it has been believed that the young were getting dumber, taken over by advanced technology and consumed by the internet, there was little hope left. However Callum Ullman-Smith has shown that he is just as smart, if not smarter than the average adult.

At the age of 12 Callum Ullman-Smith is now a renowned name in the scientific world, following his talk about his study of the Palmate Newt to the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Symposium in Edinburgh, on Sunday the 19th of October.

Callum started monitoring the unusual Palmate Newt population he personally discovered at the age of seven. Now, he has been on the BBC news, and has been covered by newspapers and online sites across the nation, and some globally, including the New York based online news site The Dodo.

 


“I feel like I’ve done something important”


 

Amazingly, for a near teenage boy this virtual fame has not gone to his head, he said: “I feel fine about it [fame], is was actually quite good fun.

“I feel known. I feel like I’ve done something important. I don’t exactly feel famous as such.

“I would like to be kind of famous. I don’t really want to be a super star, I just want to be known.”

Callum is now most defiantly ‘known’, although did not expect this fame, he said: “It was normal for us I just thought it would continue with us studying them. I never thought this would happen”

His achievements have also definitely not gone unnoticed within his local community and with his friends, when asked how they reacted to his new found fame he said: “Well they kind of just smile and say ‘well done’, ‘you’ve done so amazing’ and my mates just go on about it, like ‘He was on the news!’, ‘he was on telly!’, and congratulating me and my achievement all the time.” And rightly so, Callum and his mother Janet Ullman, who has supported him throughout the development of his research, have achieved and discovered a great amount about the Palmate newt and the newt in general through their commitment to this project, which they thought they would never get anything out of.

Photo; Callum Ullman-Smith searching for Palmate Newts in costal pools.
As a team Callum and Janet have worked exceedingly hard on this project, managing to juggle Callum’s schooling and social life as well and Janet’s job heading up the Highland Seashore Biodiversity Project, which takes up most of her free time. Callum said: “We go out once a month, every month, well we try. So we see what changes there are in the pools every month.

“We do all the work and everything like that and we always have time to play with my mates and play games and stuff.”

 

“I suppose it’s easy because I enjoy it”

 

Janet said: “I enjoy it when he [Callum] is happy, so it’s all rather enjoyable.

“There’s times when it’s a month where it’s pouring down with rain and we can’t get out, so the weather is frustrating.

“I suppose it’s easy because I enjoy it.”

Unlike the normal stereotype Callum has not been ‘dumbed down’ through his love of gaming, confessing that his favourite game is: “Minecraft – I like the animals and seeing how they work in the game and then I like construction”. Callum has defied a lot of the rules and stipulations modern society has created for the young, by proving that having a love of technology, games and messing around with ‘mates’ does not immediately mean the creation of an idiot.

However Callum is not quite happy with his accomplishments yet, where many adults before him have reached his stage of fame in the scientific world and stopped there Callum has decided the sky is the only limit, he said “I would like to write books about prehistoric and European animals. And I want to continue studying until I have more answers than questions. I hope to one day work with bigger animals, like Rhinos, but the Palmate Newt shall always be my favourite.”

Callum Ullman-Smith is a true child success story in modern Britain, something we are seeing too little of in recent times. Callum’s achievements have proved that we should have more faith in the young and their own skills and abilities to learn, and mothers like Janet Ullman should be applauded for allowing her child to take a curiosity and hobby and turn it into something as amazing as these scientific discoveries.

 

Read more about this story at;

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/372154/junior-newt-spotter-takes-findings-to-the-capital/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-29630678

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/local-lifestyle/scots-schoolboy-share-stage-top-4451173

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/environment/rock-pool-newts-put-naturalist-aged-12-in-the-academic-spotlight.25607333

https://www.thedodo.com/tag/callum%20ullman-smith

 
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