TJ
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Ranodon sibricus
English common names: Xinjiang Salamander, Semirechensk Salamander, Central Asian Salamander
Here's an article related to this species from today's Xinhua News Agency:
"Living fossil" faces extinction in NW China
URUMQI, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of Xinjiang Salamander,
an endangered amphibian native to Xinjiang, decreased by a quarter
to 3,000 in the past four years, according to statistics from
local experts.
The figures were released by Wang Xiuling, a salamander expert
with the Xinjiang Normal University. Wang, together with other
professionals, carried out a survey in Wenquan County, the major
habitat for the Xinjiang salamander, from May to June this year.
The amphibian has been regarded as the "living fossil" because
it had coexisted with the dinosaurs about 300 million years ago.
They live only in streams at the border of China and Kazakhstan at
present.
The creature was first discovered by a Russian biologist in
Xinjiang in 1866. Many other experts failed to find any of them in
the following century.
Wang rediscovered the creature when a student brought her a "
four-footed fish" from his hometown Wenquan County in 1989, and
the surveys Wang carried out then showed the number at two places
in Xinjiang exceeded 8,000.
After the Xinjiang Salamander was placed under government
protection, herdsmen have been prevented from catching and selling
them. Nevertheless, global warming has made their habitats
degenerated, leaving many streams dried, she said.
Xinjiang set up the Wenquan Regional Salamander Nature Reserve
in 1997. Wang and her colleagues called for establishment of a
state-level nature reserve to protect this rare species from
extinction.
The primitive creature was born with fishlike gills and lungs.
The lizard-like creature is about 15 to 20 centimeters long and
appears greenish on land and brownish in water. ==END
(Message edited by TJ on June 25, 2005)
English common names: Xinjiang Salamander, Semirechensk Salamander, Central Asian Salamander
Here's an article related to this species from today's Xinhua News Agency:
"Living fossil" faces extinction in NW China
URUMQI, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of Xinjiang Salamander,
an endangered amphibian native to Xinjiang, decreased by a quarter
to 3,000 in the past four years, according to statistics from
local experts.
The figures were released by Wang Xiuling, a salamander expert
with the Xinjiang Normal University. Wang, together with other
professionals, carried out a survey in Wenquan County, the major
habitat for the Xinjiang salamander, from May to June this year.
The amphibian has been regarded as the "living fossil" because
it had coexisted with the dinosaurs about 300 million years ago.
They live only in streams at the border of China and Kazakhstan at
present.
The creature was first discovered by a Russian biologist in
Xinjiang in 1866. Many other experts failed to find any of them in
the following century.
Wang rediscovered the creature when a student brought her a "
four-footed fish" from his hometown Wenquan County in 1989, and
the surveys Wang carried out then showed the number at two places
in Xinjiang exceeded 8,000.
After the Xinjiang Salamander was placed under government
protection, herdsmen have been prevented from catching and selling
them. Nevertheless, global warming has made their habitats
degenerated, leaving many streams dried, she said.
Xinjiang set up the Wenquan Regional Salamander Nature Reserve
in 1997. Wang and her colleagues called for establishment of a
state-level nature reserve to protect this rare species from
extinction.
The primitive creature was born with fishlike gills and lungs.
The lizard-like creature is about 15 to 20 centimeters long and
appears greenish on land and brownish in water. ==END
(Message edited by TJ on June 25, 2005)