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Copyright © 2024 CGTN. 京ICP备20000184号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466
The population of Amji's salamander, a species of salamander endemic to Anji County in east China's Zhejiang Province, has increased to around 600 from less than 60 in 2006.
The rare amphibian is under first-class state protection in China and is considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Recently, a wild Amji's salamander larva was spotted by researchers during their field study in Anji. The species usually lose their gills and start to live on land in mid to late May.
Researchers found that this wild Amji's salamander is 10 times bigger than its artificially bred counterparts. It is expected to live on land by June or July this year.
The rarity of wild Amji's salamanders results from their vulnerability to habitat changes, lack of food in winter and predation among similar species.
"We speculate that it grows faster because it eats larvae," said Huang Zhenyang, a graduate student from Southwest University.
Statistics show that from 1992, when Amji's salamanders were first discovered, to 2006, when conservation measures came in place, the survival rate of this species was less than 5 percent. Among 100 salamander eggs, only three to five can successfully survive in the wild, according to experts.
(Cover a still from the video)