🦎Chinese giant salamander
The Chinese giant salamander is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world. It is fully aquatic, and is endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in the Yangtze river basin of central China. It has also been introduced to Kyoto Prefecture in Japan, and possibly to Taiwan. It is considered critically endangered in the wild due to habitat loss, pollution, and overcollection, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. On farms in central China, it is extensively farmed and sometimes bred, although many of the salamanders on the farms are caught in the wild. It has been listed as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2008 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered project.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2023.
- Body mass
- 4.1 kg
- Body length
- 0.9 m
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 20 years
Everything we know about the Chinese giant salamander
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass4.1 kgAmphiBIODetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AmphiBIO · v1 (Oliveira et al. 2017) · CC BY 4.0
Body length0.9 mAmphiBIODetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AmphiBIO · v1 (Oliveira et al. 2017) · CC BY 4.0
Maximum lifespan20 yearsmaximum recordedAmphiBIODetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AmphiBIO · v1 (Oliveira et al. 2017) · CC BY 4.0
Gestation55 daysAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: low
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Litter sizeabout 500AnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: low
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Volume l4.1 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Chinese giant salamander yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classAmphibia
- ›orderCaudata
- ›familyCryptobranchidae
- ›genusAndrias
- ›speciesAndrias davidianus
- classAmphibians · Amphibia
- orderSalamanders & newts · Caudata
- familyCryptobranchidae
- genusAndrias
All 13 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- classAmphibians · Amphibia
- superorderBatrachia
- orderSalamanders & newts · Caudata
- superfamilyCryptobranchoidea
- familyCryptobranchidae
- genusAndrias
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