STORY: Study identifies 9 species of critically endangered Chinese salamander
SHOOTING TIME: Oct. 8, 2024
DATELINE: Oct. 11, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:08
LOCATION: London
CATEGORY: SCIENCE

SHOTLIST:
1. SOUNDBITE (English): BENJAMIN TAPLEY, Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
2. photos of salamander
3. image of Benjamin Tapley taking pathogen samples from a Chinese giant salamander in Shaanxi (courtesy of ZSL)

STORYLINE:

The latest cutting-edge research has confirmed that there are nine different species of the critically endangered Chinese giant salamander.

Published recently in the Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society, the research led by the conservation charity that runs London Zoo has shone a new light on the ancient animal.

A team from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), an international conservation charity driven by science, working with partners in China, used genetic data to study the world's largest amphibian, once thought to be a single species found across central and southern China.

Chinese giant salamanders can grow up to 1.8 meters long. Their loose, baggy skin helps them absorb oxygen from the water, while tiny sensors across their bodies detect vibrations from worms, crustaceans, small fish, and frogs, compensating for their poor eyesight.

"There is a high likelihood that Chinese giant salamanders face extinction in the wild, and it is extremely important to work collaboratively to prevent extinction being the fate of these ancient animals," Benjamin Tapley, curator of reptiles and amphibians at London Zoo and one of the paper's co-authors, told Xinhua.

SOUNDBITE (English): BENJAMIN TAPLEY, Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
"Traditionally, biologists and conservationists thought there was just one species of Chinese giant salamander found across southwest, southern and central and eastern China. But for the last 20 years, there's been some evidence to show that there are differences between populations living in different river basins, which obviously has implications for the conservation of each of those lineages. And the latest work that we've done with partners in China and the UK, we've shown that there are at least seven and potentially nine different species of Chinese giant salamander at the moment for described by scientists. But obviously, there are further remaining species to be described by science."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from London.
(XHTV)