THE increasing threat to wild Chinese giant salamanders
By zteve t evans
The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) are descendants of a very ancient species that were around when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. They belong to the Cryptobranchidae family which is about 170 million years old and they remain very similar to their ancient relatives.
Range and habitat
The Chinese giant salamander is indigenous to China and was once widespread but its population has become more scattered as numbers have diminished in the wild. They inhabit rocky mountain brooks, streams and lakes showing a preference for fast running, clean water such as can be found in some of the tributaries of the Yangtze, Pearl and Yellow Rivers . They prefer forested regions around 100 to 1,500m above sea level.
Family dens
Several female salamanders lay their eggs in large crevices or hollows under the water. The eggs are then cared for by in these underwater dens by the males who take charge and care and protect the eggs until about one month after they have hatched into tiny tadpoles. From these tiny tadpoles Chinese giant salamanders when fully grown can measure up to 1.8 m in length and can weigh up to 50 kg.
Critically endangered in the wild
Chinese giant salamanders can live up to 52 years of age if undisturbed, but today, few, if any achieve this. In the wild salamanders are listed by the International Union of Conservation for Nature in their Red List of Threatened Species as critically endangered.
The Chinese giant salamander is indigenous to China and was once widespread but its population has become more scattered as numbers have diminished in the wild. They inhabit rocky mountain brooks, streams and lakes showing a preference for fast running, clean water such as can be found in some of the tributaries of the Yangtze, Pearl and Yellow Rivers . They prefer forested regions around 100 to 1,500m above sea level.
Family dens
Several female salamanders lay their eggs in large crevices or hollows under the water. The eggs are then cared for by in these underwater dens by the males who take charge and care and protect the eggs until about one month after they have hatched into tiny tadpoles. From these tiny tadpoles Chinese giant salamanders when fully grown can measure up to 1.8 m in length and can weigh up to 50 kg.
Critically endangered in the wild
Chinese giant salamanders can live up to 52 years of age if undisturbed, but today, few, if any achieve this. In the wild salamanders are listed by the International Union of Conservation for Nature in their Red List of Threatened Species as critically endangered.
A culinary delicacy
Chinese giant salamanders make a noise like a human baby crying and local people call them wawa yu, or crying baby fish. Even though they are a protected species in the wild Chinese giant salamanders are considered a culinary delicacy in China. Their meat is said to have a “delicate” taste which is greatly sought after by the rich and affluent rich in modern times and to serve it up up is considered a status symbol. Their body parts are also valued in traditional Chinese medicine and their sheer size makes them very profitable to breed. They can be worth up to $1,000 each so there is plenty of incentive to poach or farm them.
Chinese giant salamander farming
In China over the last ten years the Chinese giant salamander farming industry has grown greatly to meet demand. The farms sprang up over the range of wild Chinese giant salamander populations and have evolved into key parts of the rural economy of some provinces. These farms are often stocked from Chinese giant salamanders taken from the wild. While the farms breed thousands of these salamanders taking them from the wild endangers the species in the wild. Although figures are uncertain the farms range in size from having a stock of several hundred adult animals to over 2,000 animals. The captive population may be in the millions but the wild population is dwindling.
Poaching Chinese giant salamanders
Poachers are paid a lot of money to supply these farms and other customers. This is a huge factor in the decline of numbers of Chinese giant salamanders in the wild even though farming them has only really taken off in the last decade. Taking them from the wild puts pressure on their numbers because they take up to 15 years to achieve sexual maturity so the population struggles to replace itself.
In the past when they were fairly common poachers could catch them with relative ease. As demand for their meat has increased and the population diminished more extreme and indiscriminate techniques are used but these methods also killed other species of animals and fish.
The threat of extinction
Although millions of salamanders are bred on farms they are in danger of extinction in the wild. There are reports of agencies who are supposed to be protecting them buying them from poachers and selling them to farms. Although farms do breed a great many salamanders these are prone to infectious diseases because of the conditions they are kept in. Farmed salamanders tend to be more inbred than their wild cousins so if the two breed it can be detrimental to the wild population. The journal Oryx, published a report on salamander farming which suggests that the continued depletion of the wild population of salamanders is placing them under increasing risk of extinction.
Other threats
They have suffered habitat loss and damage from human activity, with the damming of the fast flowing streams which they like. These can turn them into slow flowing deep waters above the dam or dry up the streams in places below, making them inhospitable to Chinese giant salamanders. Farming, mining and water pollution caused by humans is also a problem throughout its range. Deforestation around their streams causes them to silt up, increases soil erosion and water runoff making it difficult in some places for them to breathe sufficient oxygen which they have to do through their skin.
Hope for survival
Thankfully the good news is that conservationist believe that the species can be saved in the wild now that the problem has been realized and the main threats have been identified. They recognize that the industry had become too big to close it down. A lot of money has been invested in it from local, provincial and central government sources so banning it is not likely to happen and probably not necessary to save the species in the wild.
Instead they advocate better regulation and management of the farms. Conservationists think the past practice òf releasing salamanders from farms to boost the wild population made the situation worse. There was no screening for diseases so those released spread infection in the wild. There was also no consideration given over whether the genetic makeup of those released was suitable for the environment they were placed in.
The current thinking is that captive salamanders should not be released into the wild where they may carry infectious disease and breed with the wild population. There was also no monitoring of those released and those already in the wild so it was difficult to know what had been happening with them.
Separating wild and captive Chinese giant salamanders
Conservationists say that wild and captive salamanders should be kept separate. Furthermore, captive salamanders should have microchip tags to distinguish them from wild salamanders. They also want farms to implement better measures to control disease and bio-security and advocate the treatment and prevention of pathogens from waste water being discharged into rivers and streams into the wild and the quarantining of all new stock. They think these measures would reduce deaths on farms making it unnecessary to boost numbers by catching wild salamanders.
Better management
Conservationist point out that wild salamanders are on the brink of extinction while paradoxically millions are being bred in captivity. If wild salamanders are to survive then a change in attitudes will be required to achieve that goal. They recognize that many people make a living from salamander farming and that many people enjoy it as a delicacy and that its body parts are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and also a lot of money has been invested in the industry. They are not saying it should be banned just better managed, regulated and monitored to save wild Chinese giant salamanders from extinction.
© 10/04/2015 zteve t evans
References and attributions
Copyright 10th April 2015 zteve t evans
Copyright 10th April 2015 zteve t evans
- File:Andrias davidianus 01.JPG From Wikimedia Commons - Andrias davidianus, Cryptobranchidae, Chinese Giant Salamander; Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany. - Author H. Zell - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
- File:Andrias davidianus Hongqiaozhen.jpg From Wikimedia Commons - Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) for sale in a restaurant in Hongqiao - Author: Micromesistius - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
- Chinese giant salamander - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Chinese giant salamander videos, news and facts - BBC
- Chinese giant salamander - EDGE :: Amphibian Species ...