It’s been on earth for about 170 million years, but thanks to a epicurean demand for its meat, this salamander now finds itself on the verge of extinction. This has come to light after a four year research study has shown that the muddy brown salamander has almost completely vanished from its freshwater habitats.
Flickr The problem stems from the rise in popularity of the salamander as a favorite dish in China and the East. Luxury diners love its chewy flesh which they say tastes a lot like chicken. Although Chinese law has prohibited hunting the salamander, aka the “wa wa yu” or baby fish (so named because its distress calls sound like a child crying), they are now allowing farm raised animals to be released back into the wild to try and keep it from going extinct. Conservationists warn, however, that this may do more harm than good by introducing new diseases to the salamander population and mixing genetic lineages.
Daily Express Here’s more from the Daily Express: To add to the wild population’s parlous state, salamanders are also being routinely harvested from the wild to stock commercial breeding farms. After a landmark study into the near blind salamanders, published today in the journal Current Biology and which has seen scientists from ZSL (Zoological Society of London) working with Chinese colleagues, there are calls for captive breeding of genetically distinct lineages to assist their conservation.
Wikimedia Commons Study co-author Dr Samuel Turvey, from ZSL’s Institute of Zoology, said today: “The overexploitation 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 coordinated conservation measures are put in place as a matter of urgency, the future of the world’s largest amphibian is in serious jeopardy.” While we’re used to a smaller variety of salamander here in North America, the Andrias davidianus can grow up to be six feet long! It seems to us that making these illegal to eat or serve might be the best step to take here, but so far it the Chinese government has apparently been reluctant to do that.
