Original found at http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AsiaTrail/GiantSalamanders/
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Giant Salamanders

Two species of giant salamanders live in Asia. A similar huge amphibian, the Eastern hellbender, lives in the eastern United States. National Zoo staff are exploring which of two Asian species will do best on Asia Trail.

Japanese Giant Salamander

Order: Urodela
Family: Cryptobranchidae
Genus and Species: Andrias japonicus

Size: Japanese giant salamanders are about 55 pounds and 5 feet long.

Distribution and Habitat: Japanese giant salamanders inhabit the cold, fast-flowing mountain streams and rivers of northern Kyushu Island and western Honshu in Japan.

Diet: Japanese giant salamanders eat almost anything they can, from insects to fish to mice to small invertebrates like crabs. Giant salamanders have a very slow metabolism, and go weeks without eating, if necessary.

Reproduction: Japanese giant salamanders begin reproduction in late august, when herds congregate at nest sites. Males compete, viciously, with many dying due to injuries from fights. Females lay between 400 and 500 eggs in the fall, which may be fertilized by several males. Males aggressively guard the nests, which may contain eggs from several females, until they hatch in the early spring.

Conservation: This giant salamander was first put under protection in 1951, and was recognized as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1976. It has no natural predators, but has been hunted by local populations for food, and is losing its habitat to deforestation.

Chinese Giant Salamander

Order: Urodela
Family: Cryptobranchidae
Genus and Species: Andrias davidianus

Size: Chinese giant salamanders range from 5.5 to 6.6 feet long and weigh 45 to 55 pounds

Distribution: Chinese giant salamanders are found in fast mountain streams at 650 to 3,300 feet above sea level, in the tributaries of the Pearl, Yellow, and Yangzi rivers, across 17 regions of China. Nocturnal creatures, they live in muddy, dark rock crevices along riverbanks.

Diet: They eat crabs, fish, snakes, aquatic insects, water rats, turtles, frogs and crabs. Giant salamanders have a very slow metabolism, and go weeks without eating, if necessary.

Reproduction: Little is known.

Conservation: Chinese giant salamanders are considered a delicacy, and their body parts are used in traditional Chinese medicines. They were recognized as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1976, and are fully protected in China. Despite having no natural predators, Chinese giant salamanders are highly endangered due to habitat loss and deforestation, as well as poaching.


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