Wall color:
|
Growing to a weight over sixty pounds, the Chinese Giant Salamander is among the world’s largest amphibians. It inhabits mountain waters across China in over a dozen populations, several of which should probably be considered new species. It feeds on arthropods, fishes, and amphibians. It is threatened by habitat destruction, water pollution, and hunting for food. It is bred as a food animal in several farms, but the Chinese are still largely dependent on wild-caught animals for breeding stock, and the farmed population is a genetic mishmash, complicating the possibilities of re-release for this species. It is critically endangered in the wild.
