It’s not looking good for this handsome chap.

According to field surveys carried out over four years, the Chinese giant salamander has all but disappeared from its natural habitat, and is heading towards extinction.

The world’s largest amphibian, also known as a “living fossil”, is listed as “critically endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and is a protected species in China.

It’s also the world’s largest amphibian, and that’s a title well earned.

Right now, it is currently in a dramatic decline. There’s only a handful of these animals left in the wild – they inhabit freshwater rivers across China, and were once common.

Meanwhile, millions of them live on commercial farms where they are sold to luxury restaurants, reports the BBC.

Look, I know they’re not much to look at, but they’re regarded as a lucrative food source by the locals:

Eating the creature was historically seen as taboo, but, in a reversal of fortunes, the giant salamander is now regarded as a delicacy, despite its status as an endangered species.

It is illegal to harvest wild giant salamanders, but commercial breeding farms are booming. The largest can fetch upwards of RMB 10 000 (over R18 800 rand).

Look at this beast flexing its muscles:

Poor old fossil. What did they ever do to us to deserve this ugly fate?

Dr Samuel Turvey of the Institute of Zoology at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) reckons that the giant salamander, which has remained largely unchanged for 170 million years, is a global preservation priority:

The over-exploitation of these incredible animals for human consumption has had a catastrophic effect on their numbers in the wild over an amazingly short time-span.

Unless co-ordinated conservation measures are put in place as a matter of urgency, the future of the world’s largest amphibian is in serious jeopardy.

In other words, it’s an impending catastrophe for our fossil-like friends.

It’s illegal to harvest wild populations of giant salamander in China. While the Minister of Agriculture supports widespread release of farmed animals as a conservation measure, it has led researchers to discover that giant salamanders aren’t one species, but five, and possibly as many as eight.

What do these genetic differences mean?

Another step towards extinction, of course.

This calls for suitable strategies to protect their genetic lineage, says Dr Fang Yan from the Kunming Institute of Zoology:

Together with addressing wider pressures such as poaching for commercial farms and habitat loss, it’s essential that suitable safeguards are put in place to protect the unique genetic lineage of these amazing animals, which dates back to the time of the dinosaurs.

Keep these old giant fossils in your thoughts, folks.

[source:bbc]