That’s not a slippery river rock dislodged by torrents of rain.
This is one of the last Chinese salamanders
that live in the cool mountain rivers of China.
And it is among the largest amphibians on Earth.
They may be slipping out of our planet’s grip,
but we’ve captured everything you need to know
about the Chinese salamander.
Chinese salamanders are the largest
among the three giant species of salamanders.
Prior to becoming critically endangered,
they could grow to be 1.8 m (5.9 ft) in length
and weigh as much as 50 kg (110 lb).
Today, the largest can still get to 115 cm (3.7 ft) in size.
That’s about as big as a six-year-old child.
With a life expectancy averaging 60 years,
Chinese salamanders can also outlive some humans.
Which was definitely the case for one 200-year-old
specimen found hiding out in a cave back in 2015.
Thanks to their flat rounded heads and long bodies,
they can look like giant eels and are just as slippery
and slimy.
But some people find these paddle-tailed, grayish-green
or brown creatures with four stubby legs rather cute.
Umm. I’ll let you be the judge of that.
The giant salamander hasn't changed much since
the Jurassic Period.
They are just as old and obviously more resilient
than dinosaurs.
But they’re not the most athletic swimmers.
Using its feet to push itself against rocks,
it will hunt for freshwater crabs and fish,
with the occasional frogs and snakes thrown in
for good measure.
It can get pretty muddy in these waters,
and the salamander’s tiny lidless eyes
are not especially good at their job.
Running along the length of its body are sensory nodes
called capillaries that allow it to detect
the smallest of vibrations in the water.
When its prey moves,
the salamander is able to follow and snap it up.
It has also evolved to make good use of its size.
Wrinkled skin offers ample surface area
to absorb and breathe in oxygen from the chilly waters
it calls home.
It has lungs, but their primary use is to maintain buoyancy
in the water when they're not being used to breathe
on dry land.
Weirdly enough, the Chinese salamander makes a hissing sound
when it breathes,
but it doesn’t really have any vocal cords.
Some describe it as the sound of a baby crying,
which has earned it a nickname from the locals
the infant fish.
That's not all.
The salamander can also produce other whacky sounds,
like barks and whistles.
Multitalented.
Its skin is also equipped with granular glands
that produce an acidic, sticky secretion to repel predators.
Lab tests have shown that this substance
is toxic enough to kill mice.
But the secretion doesn’t work on humans,
the Chinese salamander’s main predator.
River pollution and damming have destroyed
their natural habitat,
and they have been hunted and poached
as a luxury food item for decades.
They are also caught for medicinal purposes.
As the popularity of salamander meat
and medical uses grew during the 1970s,
they were started to be bred in aquaculture farms
across China.
Even today,
the largest population of Chinese salamanders
is found on aquaculture farms.
To protect the species, local conservationists
started breeding salamanders in captivity
and releasing them in the wild.
Though well intended, these efforts have adversely
affected the health of existing wild species
as they bred with the farm raised species.
It has also made it difficult for researchers
to get an accurate head count for Chinese salamanders
born in the wild.
But thankfully, newer conservation efforts in China
and abroad are working to correct that.
If this endangered salamander
has not quite managed to melt your heart,
you might want to meet the adorable axolotl
in another episode of Crazy Creatures.
Growing to impossible lengths and oozing sticky slime
to repel predators
is what Chinese salamanders do.
And that’s why they’re Crazy Creatures