A giant salamander so rare and threatened they call it a “living fossil” has made its debut at The London Zoo.
The rare Chinese Giant Salamander went on display for the first time on Wednesday.
The giant amphibian was rescued with five others in a cereal box in England in 2016 after smugglers tried to import him.
Zoo experts say the species was under threat after becoming a delicacy in China.
London Zoo’s Curator of Amphibians said the animal is on a list of species designated for protection because they are both evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered.
“I was gobsmacked when we got the call to say that there were likely to be Chinese Giant Salamanders that had be smuggled into the UK, because they’re just a species that’s not traded and they shouldn’t be traded, and a species that we’ve worked so hard to protect in the field,” Ben Tapley said. “So just getting the animals here at ZSL was exciting but also quite sad as well.”
