Imagine the salamanders you used to (or still do) find in the streams and ponds around your house. They were small, cute little things that would squirm around in the palm of your hand in search for their watery home.
Now imagine if they EXPLODED in size and were 5 FEET LONG!!! Yes my friends, this is the giant salamander which can be found in the eastern part of the United States, Japan, and China. The salamander in the U.S. is a bit smaller and gets up to only about 3 feet, while the Japanese salamander is about 4 feet and the Chinese one is a whopping 5 feet long.
They're nocturnal animals and are essentially blind but use sensory nodes on their heads to detect movement. They live in cool streams and live off of fish, frogs, and some crustaceans. According to Japanese sources, they can live up to 50 years in captivity...who KNOWS how long they could live in the wild?!
The male guards the eggs instead of the females and will do so for up 3 months and once the offspring is ready they will hunt in groups and not individually.
Apparently, their bones kind of look like human bones because some Swiss guy in the 1700's found the remains of one of these creatures and was positive that they were the remains of a human who had been drowned in a deadly deluge. That sounds more like wishful thinking than anything else though.
So next time you find a little salamander and you think, "how cute!" Ask yourself, is this really a cute little salamander or is it really a baby MONSTER?!
So there you go, the giant salamander. Much more interesting than the tapir.
2 comments:
WHERE in the eastern U.S. can you find this thing? Spike would DIE if he could see one of these!
I think there are some in Woodstock - something about a change in the area's water around 1970 or so.
Post a Comment