Species profile
Andrias davidianus
Chinese giant salamander
CR · Critically Endangered — Critically Endangered — extreme risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Critically Endangered. The Chinese giant salamander is the world's largest amphibian — up to 1.8 m long — and a true living fossil whose lineage is over 170 million years old. Its recorded population direction is decreasing, so the category needs to be read alongside continuing losses of individuals or local populations.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with freshwater. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. It hunts blind in mountain streams, sensing vibrations through special receptors along its body, and can live for more than 60 years. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
When threatened it secretes a slippery, peppery-smelling mucus; in China it is nicknamed the baby fish for the cries it was said to make. The catalogue records 3 principal pressures for this profile: Overexploitation, Habitat loss, Disease. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Protecting and reconnecting habitat is a priority, together with infrastructure planning that keeps feeding, breeding or migration routes functional. Biosecurity, health surveillance and careful management of small populations help contain risks that can spread rapidly. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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