{"id":73920,"date":"2021-11-08T16:08:35","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T16:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?p=73920"},"modified":"2021-11-16T12:23:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T12:23:20","slug":"efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/","title":{"rendered":"Efforts to conserve the Chinese giant salamander continue to divide conservationists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While Jiang Wansheng swiftly unearths a hat and fishing nets from the trunk of his SUV, he urges his students to hurry up: \u201cWe have to get everything out before any tourists arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a humid summer morning, so early the sun has just begun lighting up the sky, and the vast parking lot of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, famous for its pillar-like rock formations, is still empty. But visitors are sure to come and when they do they might mistake Jiang\u2019s team for poachers and call the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together with six of his students, Jiang, a biologist at Jishou University\u2019s Zhangjiajie campus, has spent the past two months skulking through the mountainous areas around the city in hopes of finding any sign of a critically endangered animal: the Chinese giant salamander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water-dwelling predators are the world\u2019s biggest amphibian \u2013\u00ad up to 1.8 metres long \u2013 and tens of thousands of them once thrived throughout all of China\u2019s major river systems. But they\u2019ve been hunted to near extinction, and extensive reintroduction campaigns have been hampered by a lack of research and little monitoring. Meanwhile, a recent discovery that the salamander is genetically much more diverse than was previously believed has raised the question of whether repopulation efforts are doing more harm than good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing conservationists all agree on is that the number of giant salamanders in the wild remains perilously low. The precise figure, and which way it is trending, is unknown. Jiang and his students have trudged through mud while dodging cattle dung to set traps. They have made night-time treks, wading through streams in hip-high rubber boots to inspect small caves between rocks \u2013 the nocturnal animal\u2019s favourite hiding spot. Despite these efforts, they have yet to see one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Students<\/div>
Jiang Wansheng\u2019s students place traps to catch and study Chinese giant salamanders in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Image: Wu Huiyuan\/Sixth Tone)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But Jiang is confident that they will finally find what they\u2019re looking for in the Gold Whip River, which flows through the national park. Patrolled by rangers to keep people at a distance, the river is a safe haven for giant salamanders, Jiang told Sixth Tone the night before, when the team set up a dozen traps filled with pig organ meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While retracing their steps in the early morning light, however, the team encounters another string of failures. Two cages have trapped nothing but some curious crabs. Others were tossed into the trash by oblivious park cleaning staff. But then, finally, they have a catch. \u201cI\u2019m glad we won\u2019t go back empty-handed,\u201d Jiang says, elated. Inside a trap, strategically placed under a pile of river boulders, sits a decidedly unappealing animal, its body an elongated blob the colour of faeces, that ends in a big and flat face with barely noticeable eyes. Unmistakably, they\u2019ve caught a Chinese giant salamander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, at the same time, Jiang has no idea exactly what animal he\u2019s looking at. In 2018, Chinese and British biologists concluded that the Chinese giant salamander is not one, but at least five different species<\/a>, each native to separate parts of China. A year later, another team of researchers reached a similar conclusion, identifying at least seven<\/a> distinct lineages. But by then, the government\u2019s so-called enhancement efforts to increase the giant salamander\u2019s wild population by releasing farmed animals had unknowingly redistributed individuals of the various species all over China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/div>
A Chinese giant salamander trapped by Jiang Wansheng and his students (Image: Wu Huiyuan\/Sixth Tone)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This messy state of affairs has made the question of how best to preserve wild giant salamanders a divisive topic among the small number of scientists who study them. With the different species now living in each other\u2019s habitats, they could possibly interbreed and end up creating offspring genetically similar enough to actually become one species \u2013 as if stirring together different paints until it turns into one colour. While some argue mixing the genomes will produce stronger individuals, others decry the potential loss of biological diversity and say artificial breeding and reintroduction campaigns should be suspended until the animals are better understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jiang\u2019s research focuses on mapping which lineages of giant salamanders can now be found in Zhangjiajie. As his catch oozes a slimy mucus, a sign it is distressed, Jiang puts on a pair of latex gloves and, careful not to get bitten, gently moves the roughly metre-long brown creature from the trap and into a fishing net. Having forgotten to bring the cotton swabs from the car in the morning scramble, he had to improvise and instead take a little bit of tail skin, which the team will use to study its genetic make-up. Then they release their sole catch of the summer back into the water. \u201cIt\u2019s a good sign that some giant salamanders are thriving, at least in this well-protected region,\u201d Jiang says. \u201cIt\u2019s either a wild individual, or it must have been living in the wild for a long time \u2013 enhancement projects don\u2019t release animals this big.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Giant<\/div>
Jiang Wansheng looks at the Gold Whip River, a Chinese giant salamander habitat in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Image: Wu Huiyuan\/Sixth Tone)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Giant salamanders are unorthodox in many ways. \u201cThey have so many secrets for us to unlock,\u201d Jiang says. They are, for one, much larger than other amphibians. They are apex predators but lazy hunters, preferring to stay hidden and grab food as it swims past. Living mostly underwater, the animals only surface to breathe, which they do through their skin. They can regenerate tissue when wounded. It\u2019s a formula that has withstood the test of time. Chinese salamanders have existed for 170 million years \u2013 since long before the age of the Tyrannosaurus rex \u2013 and have remained largely unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But their numbers have cratered in recent decades. When Zhangjiajie native Chen Gongming was young, he often played in the Lishui River that flows through his hometown, Wudaoshui, located northwest of the national park. They would sometimes catch salamanders to eat or sell. \u201cI remember seeing at least three giant salamanders every time I went to the river for a swim,\u201d the 64-year-old tells Sixth Tone. Those days are long gone. \u201cIt may have been nearly 10 years since I last saw one in the wild,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1980s, as the Chinese economy continued its decades-long run of rapid growth, people began to view giant salamanders not just as a supplement to meagre rural diets but as a delicacy. Chen decided to quit his construction work and use his savings to build breeding facilities in Wudaoshui. In 1987, he captured 28 wild animals from the river where he used to play and became the third licensed giant salamander farmer of Hunan province. Then, as now, salamander farms are little more than barely lit concrete basins. The animals are low-maintenance and aren\u2019t picky eaters. Chen feeds them frozen fish and chicklets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Giant<\/div>
Chen Gongming walks through his giant salamander farm in Zhangjiajie (Image: Wu Huiyuan\/Sixth Tone)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Chen\u2019s cavernous office, located above one of his eight breeding facilities, one wall traces his rise. A yellowing photo in which a much younger Chen holds a giant salamander hangs next to a collection of gold-coloured plaques from the local government praising his farm. In a picture from 2013, a neatly dressed Chen poses proudly next to a local government official. Back then, the animal\u2019s price reached high after new high, at one point topping 4,000 yuan (US$620 by today\u2019s exchange rates) per kilogram. Scientists now say that is one reason why the animal remains understudied. For a long time, they couldn\u2019t afford to buy salamanders for observation. But Chen was having a glorious time, making a million yuan every month selling salamanders to restaurants and hatchlings to other farms, he recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales shot up, but farmers\u2019 concrete basins weren\u2019t conducive to reproduction. To maintain stocks, many turned to poachers. Hunting the animal had required official permission since 1988, when China placed giant salamanders on its protective species list. But enforcement was weak. As a result, the population crashed. Since 2004, the animal has been considered critically endangered<\/a> because of a \u201cdrastic population decline, estimated to be more than 80% over the last three generations,\u201d according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). \u201cThat\u2019s in line with the fate of many other amphibians<\/a>,\u201d says Ama\u00ebl Borz\u00e9e, a biology professor at Nanjing Forestry University in eastern China and the deputy chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Amphibian Specialist Group. \u201cAmphibians are not very sexy obviously, so not a lot of people care about them,\u201d he tells Sixth Tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, the price of giant salamanders has plummeted. Better breeding methods have increased supply and demand has also dropped. When the Covid-19 outbreak was linked to the wildlife trade, the government began to reconsider the farming of all kinds of animals. Though aquatic animals were exempted from a later ban<\/a>, consumer attitudes had shifted, Jiang says. Zhangjiajie, in February 2020, did institute a local ban<\/a>, wiping out a third of Chen\u2019s sales. He feels aggrieved and confused. The city\u2019s government had earlier promoted the industry as a poverty alleviation<\/a> tool. His salamanders are now priced at around 100 yuan per kilogram and cheaper still when bought in bulk \u2013 a far cry from what he was making 10 years ago. \u201cI have invested 50 million yuan in my farms, but I\u2019m losing money every day now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Giant<\/div>
Chen Gongming feeds the salamanders chickens, as well as fish (Image: Wu Huiyuan\/Sixth Tone)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To some, farms like Chen\u2019s are part of the problem. The dual status of the Chinese giant salamander \u2013 wild populations are protected while farmed animals are legally traded \u2013 makes conservation work challenging, researchers say. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to talk about protection when business interests are involved,\u201d Che Jing, a biologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences\u2019 Kunming Institute of Zoology, tells Sixth Tone. Chen, the farmer, argues that, without hatcheries, giant salamanders would rise in value enough for poaching to once more become worth the risk. Also, because farms supply the government reintroduction efforts that, since the early 2000s, have attempted to keep wild populations from collapsing, the animal would truly be in trouble if Chen and his competitors quit, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these programmes are not without controversy. The discovery of the genetic differences meant that, for years, farms had unwittingly been running interbreeding experiments by making giant salamanders of different lineages produce offspring. \u201cWe should suspend all release programmes until we can answer some of the questions about these animals,\u201d says Che, who is one of the 2018 paper\u2019s lead authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That includes agreeing on whether the differences between the lineages are big enough to call them different species. In biology, such delineations are never clear-cut. Conventionally, two animals are classified as different species if they cannot mate, or if they produce infertile offspring \u2013 such as mules, the progeny of a horse and a donkey. But some biologists, using modern technologies, argue that animals should be classified as different species if their genes are divergent enough, which, Che says, is the case for giant salamanders. \u201cSome groups split off from the others as early as 10 million years ago,\u201d she says, adding that this is about when humans and chimpanzees went their separate ways. \u201cIn fact, my current study has found signs that some lineages can\u2019t interbreed. But regardless of whether they can be defined as separate species, each independent lineage should be protected independently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Albino<\/div>
An albino Chinese giant salamander, which are rare and often kept as ornamental animals, in a farm in Zhangjiajie (Image: Wu Huiyuan\/Sixth Tone)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Further study into the different lineages is complicated. \u201cThe most pressing issue is that even though we find there are separated groups of giant salamanders, we\u2019re yet to be able to determine the exact geological range of each species,\u201d Che says. It\u2019s also unknown whether giant salamanders of different lineages are mating outside captivity. A mixed-heritage individual in the wild may have been born on a farm. The worst-case scenario, to some, is that the various lineages do breed on their own initiative. Eventually, this will reduce their genetic diversity, and they will potentially produce offspring that are infertile, as many hybrid animals are. It could spell the beginning of the end for the giant salamanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Diao Kunpeng, the founder of nonprofit Qingye Ecology, which helps manage nature reserves, says academics tend to overrate the importance of genetic purity. \u201cI think the focus of conservation should be to make sure the giant salamander exists in water to play its role in the ecosystem,\u201d he tells Sixth Tone. Besides working with giant salamanders, Diao has years of experience protecting giant pandas. He says conservationists in that field are also split on whether China\u2019s two panda lineages \u2013 one inhabiting northern China\u2019s Qinling mountains and the other hailing from Sichuan province in the southwest \u2013 should interbreed. \u201cGenetic purity is certainly something we should pay attention to and be aware of,\u201d he says. \u201cBut now there are places that would rather leave their rivers empty than try to restore the ecosystem. Personally, I think it\u2019s being penny-wise and pound-foolish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jiang, the Zhangjiajie researcher, also thinks the survival of giant salamanders as a group should be the priority. By definition, genetic homogenisation reduces biodiversity. But, Jiang explains, breeding between lineages may introduce \u201chybrid vigour\u201d \u2013 meaning genetically diverse parents producing stronger offspring. \u201cIs it really that scary? We have no data to say either way,\u201d Jiang says. \u201cMixing already happened, and it wouldn\u2019t be rational or ethical to clean out all the non-native animals. So I think the most pressing issue is to figure out whether there is actually a threat or maybe an unintentional benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding these answers is a slow process. Scientists like Jiang, whose work is funded by the Zhilan Foundation, a private organisation aiming to protect endangered species, need to trap animals to gather their genetic information. Research could be sped up if giant salamanders released into the wild were fitted with devices that relay their movements and whether they are alive, as commonly happens with other large animals. But technological difficulties and lack of funding mean this rarely happens, according to Chen Jiafa, the head of the Zhangjiajie Giant Salamander National Nature Reserve Management Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/div>
A camera used to monitor giant salamanders in a pond that mimics natural conditions on the premises of the Zhangjiajie Giant Salamander National Nature Reserve Management Bureau (Image: Wu Huiyuan\/Sixth Tone)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The bureau oversees most giant salamander conservation and release activities in the reserve, which covers an area of 140 square kilometres and includes the national park. Chen Jiafa, who isn\u2019t related to Chen Gongming, tells Sixth Tone that salamanders like to squeeze into cracks between rocks, so external trackers \u2013 such as the collars put on bears \u2013 aren\u2019t an option. The bureau has been trialling chip implants, but recording the activities of the salamanders this way requires installing thousands of signal sensing stations along the reserve\u2019s rivers. \u201cIt\u2019s an expensive project, and we\u2019re not in a position to make such investments for now,\u201d Chen says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lack of tracking also makes it difficult to evaluate protection efforts. Chen Jiafa has been trying to improve how salamanders are reintroduced into the wild. After scientists argued the animals should be trained before they are released from their concrete farm basins, he built an outdoor pond that mimics the natural environment. There, the salamanders are fed only live fish and shrimp which they have to catch themselves. They are reintroduced into the wild after six months to a year of such training \u2013 and after a genetic analysis to make sure they are native to the area. But without proper monitoring, there\u2019s no way of knowing whether this translates into a higher chance of survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, it\u2019s an open question whether releasing giant salamanders into the wild is effective. Jiang Jianping, an amphibian researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences\u2019 Chengdu Institute of Biology, estimates that, by 2019, the number of individuals released into rivers and streams across the country totalled over 270,000<\/a>. But wild giant salamanders are rarely spotted, making it a mystery where the released animals have gone. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing field research at many places for many years, but never really see a wild salamander,\u201d Jiang Jianping, who isn\u2019t related to Jiang Wansheng, tells Sixth Tone. After two decades of repopulation programs for Chinese giant salamanders, authorities and scientists alike are uncertain about what they have achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frequently, giant salamanders are released in an attempt to make construction projects environmentally neutral. In 2019, for example, a billion-dollar high-speed railway line opened that connects the southwestern metropolis Chongqing with Changde, a city in Hunan. The line cut through forested mountains and necessitated the construction of several concrete pillars in the waters of Zhangjiajie\u2019s giant salamander nature reserve. To compensate, the builders contracted Chen Jiafa to release some 900 salamanders into the reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past decade, the bureau has undertaken over 50 such compensation projects, each time releasing dozens and sometimes hundreds of giant salamanders into the reserve. How the animals are faring, or where they are, nobody knows for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was first published on Sixth Tone<\/a>, with contributions from Nie Yiming. The editor was Kevin Schoenmakers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After genetic research showed Chinese giant salamanders aren\u2019t just one species, conservationists are split on the merits of repopulation efforts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1072,"featured_media":73941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[764],"tags":[511,523,610],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000110],"class_list":["post-73920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","tag-biodiversity","tag-conservation","tag-wildlife","country-china"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEfforts to conserve Chinese giant salamander divide conservationists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After research showed Chinese giant salamanders aren\u2019t just one species, conservationists are split on the merits of repopulation efforts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Efforts to conserve the Chinese giant salamander continue to divide conservationists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After genetic research showed Chinese giant salamanders aren\u2019t just one species, conservationists are split on the merits of repopulation efforts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dialogue Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-08T16:08:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-16T12:23:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lushan Huang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lushan Huang\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0c346145d8caa19f208165af1cb3210b\"},\"headline\":\"Efforts to conserve the Chinese giant salamander continue to divide conservationists\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-08T16:08:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-16T12:23:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/\"},\"wordCount\":2920,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Biodiversity\",\"Conservation\",\"Wildlife\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Nature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/\",\"name\":\"Efforts to conserve Chinese giant salamander divide conservationists\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-08T16:08:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-16T12:23:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"After research showed Chinese giant salamanders aren\u2019t just one species, conservationists are split on the merits of repopulation efforts\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Giant salamander in hatchery\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Efforts to conserve the Chinese giant salamander continue to divide conservationists\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Dialogue Earth\",\"description\":\"Global climate and environment news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png\",\"width\":256,\"height\":256,\"caption\":\"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DialogueEarth_\",\"\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DialogueEarth.English\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dialogue.earth\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dialogueearth\/\"],\"publishingPrinciples\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/about\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0c346145d8caa19f208165af1cb3210b\",\"name\":\"Lushan Huang\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/huanglushan\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/ye-ruolin\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Efforts to conserve Chinese giant salamander divide conservationists","description":"After research showed Chinese giant salamanders aren\u2019t just one species, conservationists are split on the merits of repopulation efforts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Efforts to conserve the Chinese giant salamander continue to divide conservationists","og_description":"After genetic research showed Chinese giant salamanders aren\u2019t just one species, conservationists are split on the merits of repopulation efforts","og_url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/","og_site_name":"Dialogue Earth","article_published_time":"2021-11-08T16:08:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-16T12:23:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Lushan Huang","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/"},"author":{"name":"Lushan Huang","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0c346145d8caa19f208165af1cb3210b"},"headline":"Efforts to conserve the Chinese giant salamander continue to divide conservationists","datePublished":"2021-11-08T16:08:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-16T12:23:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/"},"wordCount":2920,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png","keywords":["Biodiversity","Conservation","Wildlife"],"articleSection":["Nature"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/","name":"Efforts to conserve Chinese giant salamander divide conservationists","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png","datePublished":"2021-11-08T16:08:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-16T12:23:20+00:00","description":"After research showed Chinese giant salamanders aren\u2019t just one species, conservationists are split on the merits of repopulation efforts","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20211108_Giant-salamander-in-hatchery_1200px.png","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Giant salamander in hatchery"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/efforts-to-conserve-the-chinese-giant-salamander-continue-to-divide-conservationists\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Efforts to conserve the Chinese giant salamander continue to divide conservationists"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/","name":"Dialogue Earth","description":"Global climate and environment news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization","name":"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png","width":256,"height":256,"caption":"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/DialogueEarth_","","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DialogueEarth.English","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dialogue.earth\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dialogueearth\/"],"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/about\/"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0c346145d8caa19f208165af1cb3210b","name":"Lushan Huang","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/huanglushan\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/ye-ruolin\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73920"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=73920"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=73920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}