{"id":30009,"date":"2023-07-08T19:00:22","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T17:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=143997"},"modified":"2023-07-08T19:38:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T17:38:29","slug":"natures-weirdest-creatures-the-chinese-giant-salamander-weighs-as-much-as-a-10-year-old-and-cries-like-a-baby","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/natures-weirdest-creatures-the-chinese-giant-salamander-weighs-as-much-as-a-10-year-old-and-cries-like-a-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature\u2019s weirdest creatures: The Chinese giant salamander weighs as much as a 10-year-old and cries like a baby"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you like your salamander\u2019s big, then this behemoth is for you. <\/p>

By Helen Pilcher\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 08 July 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The smiley-faced whopper grows up to 1.8m long and weighs as much as a 10-year-old child. It sounds like a child too, making crying and moaning noises that have earned it the nickname \u2018w\u00e1y\u00e1y\u00fa\u2019 or \u2018infant fish.\u2019<\/p>\n

It lives in the rivers and streams of central China, where its mottled appearance helps it to blend in with the rocky riverbeds. Lacking gills, this amphibian breathes through its skin and so depends on the oxygen-rich, fast-flowing waters it calls home. There, it chows down on small animals, such as frogs, worms, fish and snails, which it draws into its mouth via a powerful suction mechanism.<\/p>\n

Prey items can briefly reach speeds of up to 1.4 metres per second<\/a>, before finding themselves inside the salamander\u2019s stomach.<\/p>\n

A living fossil, this goliath been around since the age of the dinosaurs<\/a>, but it\u2019s now critically endangered, due to habitat loss, water pollution and poaching. Wild animals are caught to supply salamander farms, which sell the animals as a luxury food item.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s government supports plans to restock the wild salamanders using farmed animals, but conservationists warn that this could transfer disease and runs the risk of hybridising populations that are genetically unique.<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/media.immediate.co.uk\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/Chinese-Salamander-Compressed-6bfaf0f.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

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