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Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias Davidianus)



=Giant Chinese Salamander Range (Habitat)=

The Giant Chinese Salamander lives near the Pearl, Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. They are known to live near the cold fast running mountain streams and usually found in hallows and cavaties under the waters.

=Niche= The Giant Chinese Salamander is usually active at night, and eats fish, smaller salamanders, worms, insects, crayfish and snails, by catching them with a rapid sideways snap of the mouth. The Salamander does not see it's prey but uses it's keen sense of smell and touch. The mating behaviour of the Giant Chinese Salamander is similar to the Giant Japanese Salamander. The mating season for this salamander is from late August to September where hundreds of salamanders move to nesting sites. The male salamanders find a spot and thenguards it from intruders, and does not kid around. If an intruder comes the male salamander will fight him, and usually many salamanders die from injuries. Female salamanders come to the nest, lay 400-500 eggs tied together by a thread of beads, then leaves immediately. The male stays, fertalizes the eggs, and defends them untill they hatch 12-15 weeks later in early Spring.

=Population Status= The Giant Chinese Salamander is becoming extinct due to many reasons. One of which is that they are being hunted due to it's flesh being a delicacy in Asian. They are also becoming extinct because of a change in their habitat because of deforestation (loss of trees) causing soil erosion and an increase in runoff and silting in rivers. Dams built in China have also been a factor of the Salamander's change of habitat.

=Conservation Efforts= The Giant Chinese Salamander is being protected by many ways, in an attempt to stop it's species from becoming extinct. The salamander is protected by its protection from international trade due to it being listed on the Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). Since 1980 the Giant Chinese Salamander is being protected by 14 nature reserves, with a total of 355,000 Hectares (1 Hectare = 2.471 acres) has been established to protect the Giant Chinese Salamander.

=Work Cited= Information on the Giant Chinese Salamander found at, and used on 10/14/09. []