A Precious Egg Sac of Wushan Salamanders

Thanks to the good natural resources and environment of Shennongjia, it is not difficult to have a look at the true appearance of the Wushan salamander. They hide themselves under stone seams when they don't move. And they crawl underwater only when they're looking for food and looking for a partner. So it is understandable that most people think it is difficult to find their tracks in the wild, and then come to the conclusion that their number is very small. In fact, in streams and pools flowing water all the year round in the middle and high altitude area of Shennongjia when flipping the water a little bigger and flatter stone, before a few times, you can find one or two of them. Some are 15 to 20 centimeters long adult salamander and some are 3 to 6 centimeters of young salamander.Their feather-like outer gills are exposed in both left and right jaws. They are incomplete metamorphosis animals, also known as larval maturation. This means that they will not, like their amphibians consanguinity frogs, grow up and their tails disappear completely.

To conduct in-depth research on this ancient and rare animal, experts from the Science Research Institute of Shennongjia National Park will not miss this crucial time of the year. Carrying a variety of cutting-edge equipment, they frequent the streams and pools of Shennongjia, carefully searching for traces of these animals and studying their reproduction process.

Yu Huiliang, deputy director of the Institute, has always had a wish to see the Wushan salamanders and their egg sacs with his own eyes. Since March this year, he has often walked among the mountain streams at altitudes above 2,000 meters in expectation of an unexpected discovery. His efforts were rewarded - his wish was granted. On the afternoon of March 16, in a mountain stream in Dalongtan area at an altitude of about 2,240 meters, he stumbled on a round blue object like a coin under the water. Zooming in on the object with a zoom lens, he found that there were about 20 round eggs in the blue object. It was exactly the egg sac of Wushan salamanders. Ecstatic, he realized that this was what he had been wanting for many years. He quickly photographed the egg sac and shared it with his colleagues from the Park.

Since the beginning of spring this year, Kevin has asked Yu Huiliang, vice president of Shennongjia National Park Science Research Institute, about the temperature and snowmelt conditions in Shennongjia, the stinging conditions and activity of amphibians, and whether they can see salamander eggs on WeChat for many times. More than the president assured him: absolutely can see. On the afternoon of March 16, President Yu found salamander eggs in a mountain stream about 2240 meters above sea level in Dalongtan: the light blue object under the water that is similar to the square hole coin, and sometimes it is nearly a banana-shaped object. In this light blue object, also distributed about 20 beige round eggs. He quickly photographed the egg sac and sent it to Kevin at Nanjing Forestry University. Kevin was overjoyed to see it and hurried to arrange a spring trip to Shennongjia.