china Archives -

New Species of Frog: Dabie Mountain Brown Frog

December 22, 2017December 22, 2017 Adam

Researchers, Chencheng Wang, Lifu Qian, Chenling Zhang, Weibo Guo, Tao Pan, Jun Wu, Hui Wang, and Baowei Zhang, have discovered a new species of frog from the Dabie Mountains in China. They named the frog the Dabie Mountain Brown Frog (Rana dabieshanensis) because that’s the only area that the frog have been found it. The Dabie Mountain Brown Frog was placed in the genus Rana because of it’s similar features to others in the genus. Rana is a genus in the family Ranidae – the True Frog family.

Source: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=19383

Chinese Giant Salamanders (Andrias davidianus)

November 19, 2017March 31, 2018 Adam

chinese-giant-salamander-banner2 — by ZSL

Common Name: Chinese Giant Salamanders
Scientific Name: Andrias davidianus
Family: Cryptobranchidae
Location: China and introduced to Taiwan
Size: 5.9 feet or 180 cm

The Chinese Giant Salamander is the largest salamander and amphibian in the world. It is considered a living fossil and are critically endangered. They are know to live as long as 60 years but there are stories of them living over 200 years.

For breeding, the female Chinese Giant Salamander lays her eggs in an underwater cavity. The males fertilize the eggs then guard the eggs until they hatch. The new salamanders take around 5 to 6 years to mature.

The Chinese Giant Salamander is moving fast to becoming extinct. Most of their habitat has been destroyed and they are illegally taken for medicine and food. The Chinese Giant Salamander needs help!