How are the Newts described in the novel, War with the Newts?

The Newts are described as being the size of a ten-year-old child. They walk on hind legs, have four prehensile fingers and five toes, live mostly in water but can breathe both sea and atmospheric oxygen. They are highly intelligent and adaptable, articulate and nonaggressive, and almost too eager to ascend the ladder of industrial civilization.