Chinese giant salamander
Scientific name: Andrias davidianus (Blanchard, 1871)
Overview
The Chinese giant salamander is the largest salamander and the largest amphibian in the world. It is fully aquatic, and is endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in the Yangtze river basin of central China. It has also been introduced to Kyoto Prefecture in Japan, and possibly to Taiwan. It is considered critically endangered in the wild due to habitat loss, pollution, and overcollection, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. On farms in central China, it is extensively farmed and sometimes bred, although many of the salamanders on the farms are caught in the wild. It has been listed as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2008 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered project.
From the Wikipedia article “Chinese giant salamander”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: Southern Asia.
Common names
Names in other languages (9)
- Arabic
- سلمندر عملاق صيني
- Chinese
- 中国大鲵, 大鲵
- French
- Salamandre géante de Chine
- German
- Chinesischer Riesensalamander
- Indonesian
- Salamander Raksasa Cina
- Japanese
- チュウゴクオオサンショウウオ
- Persian
- سمندر غولپیکر چینی
- Portuguese
- Salamandra-gigante-da-china
- Russian
- Китайская исполинская саламандра
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q61312, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Chinese giant salamander”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — Petr Hamerník, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026