Chinese giant salamander

The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is a cryptobranchid, one of the largest living amphibians, averaging about 1.3 m and 25–30 kg with a maximum of 1.8 m and some 50 kg. It is fully aquatic and nocturnal in clear mountain streams of the Yangtze, Yellow and Pearl drainages between 100 and 1,500 m, feeding on crabs, fish, frogs and insects, with cannibalism common. The population is now highly fragmented. The IUCN assessed it as Critically Endangered in 2023 after declines exceeding 80 percent; fewer than 50,000 wild adults are estimated, and trade is controlled under CITES Appendix I.