PRC Press: Salamanders well protected in Guizhou

[wes]

Most of the press item is photos, so you'll have to go to the URL to pick up the item.

<u>CHINA VIEW</u> (Beijing, China) 08 July 06 Salamanders well protected in Guizhou
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-07/08/content_4808278.htm

[ian]

A good news that China government are helping out.

[paris]

anyone know how old those ones they are releasing are? im wondering how many years it takes before they are released.

[kyle]

Paris -
A well educated guess tells me those animals are close to 3 feet long (maybe a bit less), and depending on food uptake, that should make them approximately 5 years old. Previous claims of released captives by the 100's have been made before on smaller 2 year animals. Supposedly, that is an anual event - who knows.

It's been a long debated topic if the Chinese truly are having successful breedings. They claim to have been since the early 1980's, but no substantial proof can really be presented, and no actual techniques are shared - mainly having to do with how they use the hormones, and exactly how successful the hormones are.

This article and pictures to me doesn't necessarily prove much, but it does show that something is happening, and obviously some people do care - that says quite a bit. Still seems there is a large hurdle to jump before any of these things become concrete.

Either way, thanks for the heads up on the pictures/article!

[wouter]

The Japanese really do succeed in breeding A. japonicus, and this seems real too... But it is still only one small salamander-farm against billions of salamander-consuming Chinese...

[kyle]

Good point Wouter... although technically isn't it only just over 1 billion people?;). And really, we have to consider not all of them consume Salamanders... Amphibian allergies and what not :P.

In all seriousness, it does show there is success, and it continues to baffle me why the United States hasn't been able to figure out our Hellbender problems... and we don't even think they're tasty!

(Message edited by UberKye on July 10, 2006)

[charles]

speaking of Hellbender's, I'd seen a guy on kingsnake.com that was selling them but he was sold out, but he had pic. of them in a big tub, he was located in florida.

[ian]

Nah... I dont think Chinese consume Salamander as food. Cause I never heard of it other than the use of medicine. And I guess we dont take medicine everyday. http://www.caudata.org/forum/clipart/happy.gif

[joan]

The chinese do eat salamanders, it's a delicacy, and very expensive. They also eat turtles. In fact, one species of Cuora has never been found in the wild (by scientists, anyway), only in the food markets.

Charles, that's too bad. These guys have enough problems with survival. They can't contend with having to be pets on top of pollution, siltation, and ignorant people.

[ian]

yea. I heard of the Turtle. Even in Canada, I saw them saling a living turtle head in the chinese market. It was really disgusting and sad.

One of the famous way to eat turtle is to file the turtle shell into powder and use it to make dessert. If you have a local chinese dessert shop, they most likely will have that available but also should be one of those most expensive one. But I still have yet to heard of a salamander food.