Lurking in the cold mountain streams of China and Japan is a creature that looks like it crawled straight out of the age of dinosaurs—because it basically did. The giant salamander can grow up to 6 feet long and weigh over 100 pounds, making it the world's largest living amphibian. To put that in perspective, that's longer than most humans are tall.

There are actually three species of giant salamanders. The Chinese giant salamander typically reaches about 4 feet but can grow up to nearly 6 feet. The South China giant salamander, only recently identified as a separate species, holds the record at up to 6.6 feet. The Japanese giant salamander is the "smallest" of the giants at around 5 feet max. All three are critically endangered.

Living Fossils With Wrinkly Skin

Giant salamanders have remained virtually unchanged for 170 million years. They're often called "living fossils" because they've outlasted the dinosaurs with the same basic body plan. Their skin is covered in wrinkles and folds that increase surface area for absorbing oxygen directly from the water—they have lungs but barely use them.

These nocturnal hunters have terrible eyesight but compensate with sensitive skin that detects vibrations in the water. They'll eat pretty much anything they can fit in their mouths: fish, insects, crabs, smaller salamanders, and even small mammals that venture too close to the water's edge.

The Loneliest Animal

Despite being enormous and ancient, giant salamanders are disappearing fast. The Chinese species is critically endangered, with wild populations declining by more than 80% over three generations. The main threats? Habitat destruction, pollution, and eating them. Giant salamander is considered a delicacy in China, selling for hundreds of dollars per pound.

Captive breeding programs exist but have had mixed success
Farm-raised salamanders are genetically distinct from wild populations
Illegal poaching continues despite protection efforts
Dams and pollution have destroyed much of their habitat

In 2018, researchers spent four years surveying 97 sites across China and found salamanders at only four of them. Some scientists fear the Chinese giant salamander may already be functionally extinct in the wild.

Strange But True

Giant salamanders can live for over 50 years in captivity, with some reports claiming specimens over 100 years old. They're also surprisingly vocal for amphibians, making crying sounds that some say resemble a human baby—which is why they're sometimes called "baby fish" in Chinese (娃娃鱼, wáwáyú).

One specimen at Prague Zoo weighs a whopping 88 pounds and measures nearly 5 feet long, probably making it the largest giant salamander currently in captivity. But even that behemoth would have been dwarfed by unverified historical reports of 10-foot specimens from the 1920s, which most scientists believe were exaggerations or measurement errors.

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