Sure
-Tracking Giant Salamanders
During the last two weeks of July of this year, Erik Keyster, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden's Head Amphibian Keeper, traveled to Japan to participate in a radio tracking study on the Japanese giant salamander. Erik received a grant from the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden's Internal Conservation Fund to support this project entitled, "Movement Patterns and Population Structure of Andrias japonicus, Japanese Giant Salamander, in the Tsuchiya River, Tottori Prefecture," which is being conducted by Sumio Okada, a graduate student at Shimane University in Japan.
While working in Japan, Erik was able to observe more than fifty giant salamanders in the wild. After returning from Japan, Erik modified a large pool to serve as a potential breeding pond for giant salamanders in the Zoo's amphibian facility based on his observations of these animals in the wild. Two male and one female Japanese giant salamander were successfully introduced together for the first time in the Zoo's history in early September. This species has been maintained at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden for the past 25 years.-
-Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden's Wildlife Explorer, November/December 2004, Volume X, Number 6