Expert of this article: Liu Yadan, researcher, deputy secretary-general of China Agricultural Association for International Exchange, chief science communication expert in China
Salamanders may not be well-known in the animal kingdom and do not receive much attention, but the specialness of salamanders may be unmatched by other amphibians, because salamanders are four-different animals. Say that it resembles a giant salamander dollfish, or a baby fish that has not grown up, but they are of different families and different genera; it is said that it resembles a lizard, but the lizard belongs to the cold-blooded reptile; it is said that it is like a frog, but the frog has no tail.
What is a salamander?
Salamanders are amphibians of amphibians in the amphibian family Salamander family. The salamander is not exclusive to our country, it has more than 20 species in eastern Asia, in addition to China, North Korea and Japan also have. Japan has the largest number of species, about 17 species, and China currently knows 11 species. Chinese salamander is a species of salamander in the family Salamander that is unique to China, with a length of 16 cm to 21 cm, a yellowish body, a light brown ventral surface with black star dots, a 4-legged, flat head that is larger than the body, and a thin blade at the end of the tail.
What does a salamander look like?
We said that the salamander is a cute four-way animal. People are most likely to mistake them for giant salamanders that have not grown up, but in fact, in addition to their different families, there are still many differences. Although salamanders and salamanders are both long-tailed animals, their respective tail and body length ratios are not the same. The ratio of the tail to the length of the body is about 1:1, while the ratio of the tail of the giant salamander to the length of the body is about 1:2; the limbs of the giant salamander are relatively short compared to their size, not as symmetrical as the limbs of the salamander; the eyes are the same, the salamander has large eyes, the head is small, the head is large, and the small eyes are small. The size of the salamander is small, the largest generally does not exceed 20 cm, some are less than 10 cm, while the length of the giant salamander can reach 2 meters. This series of differences is not the same as the big head son and the small head father, but the obvious difference in the size of the two animals. It's just that salamanders, like giant salamanders, are both amphibians and rely on their lungs and moist skin to exchange air and breath.
How do salamanders live?
The salamanders mostly inhabit secondary forests, weeds and shrublands with lush vegetation near high-altitude, intermount ponds, and enter the stream ponds during the child-bearing season, where the water quality of the breeding waters is clear, hiding under stones or under the cover of plant branches and leaves to spawn, and then they return to terrestrial life. Don't look at the salamander as a pocket animal, they are also carnivorous animals. Some small animals in the water, such as shrimp and insects, as well as land worms, polypod larvae, earthworms, and slugs are their food. We are generally talking about some large aquatic animals, such as cetaceans, sturgeons and other large carnivores from ancient times, which have endured hardships and survived to this day. But you may not know that among the tailed orders, the salamander belongs to the primitive species. According to research, their survival history has been 300 million years. With dinosaurs in the same era of development, can be called the pocket version of the dinosaur, such a pocket creature, can go through the vicissitudes, tenacious reproduction to this day, enough to shock! Biologists' study of their way of living has become a valuable primer for studying the evolutionary history of paleontology. It can be said that there are big ways of survival, and small have small survival advantages.
How were Chinese salamanders found?
According to experts, the salamanders found so far are mainly distributed in eastern Asia. Chinese salamanders were previously mistaken for a wide distribution and were found at different times. According to relevant reports, first in 1889, foreigners found this small salamander in Yichang, Hubei Province, and named it "Chinese Salamander". After Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, Guangdong successively found that there are "Chinese salamander" infested, experts through further research, the small salamander found in Yiwu, Zhejiang province called Yiwu salamander, found in Anji salamander called Anji salamander, found in Hunan small salamander called Hanging List Mountain salamander. They inhabit hills or hills. If it is not the season of love and childbirth, they mostly live on land, usually hidden in moist and loose soil, saprophyll layers or under stones, villagers in hilly areas can often dig out small salamanders in some rotten leaves when cultivating land, rainy days and evenings, they will drill out of the ground and forage. Like most amphibians, salamanders reproduce in an oviparous fashion. Beware: salamanders are not mammals! The basic mode of reproduction of mammals is fetal birth, and the lungs are developed, and they breathe with their lungs. Although adult salamanders can also breathe with their lungs, their lungs are not well developed, so their breathing efficiency is not as high as in mammals.
The Chinese salamander is a precious wild amphibian unique to China, due to its endangerment, it was listed in the "Red Book of Endangered Animals of China" at the same time as the national treasure giant panda. Regarding the distribution and number of Chinese salamanders in China, experts are still further studying, and one thing is certain that the number of salamanders in China is still sparse. Especially in recent years, the expansion of human activities, the destruction and pollution of the natural environment, but also affected the living environment of the salamander, their habitat is getting smaller and smaller, the population is also decreasing. What is even more hateful is that some people sell salamanders as pets in the flower and bird market.
How to distinguish between a salamander and other similar animals?
We say that the salamander is a four-different creature, although it is not like it, but there are similarities, how to distinguish the difference between them?
We said above the difference between the giant salamander and the salamander, and the most similar to the salamander should be said to be salamander, their size and size are relatively similar, to distinguish them, mainly depending on the color of the belly, scarlet with black patches is a common salamander, yellow with black patches is a salamander. It should be noted that most of the salamanders are beautiful and bright, but this beauty is poisonous! Salamanders use this bright color to warn their enemies so that predators who are eager to move will stay away; the small salamander body shape and the lizard are also somewhat similar, but the small salamander body surface is not covered by scales, and the lizard has hard scales; frogs and salamanders also have a lot of similarities, they are amphibians, but frogs belong to amphibians and tailless orders, small tadpoles have tails, but when they grow up, they disappear, and their strong limbs grow out!
Conservation status of salamanders
At present, all species of the salamander family are listed in the list of wild animals under national key protection in China and are protected by relevant laws and regulations. The state has established the General Pass China Salamander Nature Reserve in Changyang, Hubei Province, the Anji Salamander National Nature Reserve in Anji, Zhejiang, and the Salamander Nature Reserve in Qiyang, Hunan, which have played an important role in the protection of various salamanders in China.
Although small, salamanders are also part of biodiversity and are living specimens for the study of prehistoric biological evolution. I hope that everyone will know china's salamanders, protect the salamanders, consciously stop the illegal capture and trade of wild salamanders, and be a protector of ecological safety.
