Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago

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Releasing Chinese giant salamanders back into the wild sounds like a good idea, but it's causing problems for the salamanders and for our understanding of what a species even is.

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Sources:
cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30432-9
https://ag.purdue.edu/extension/hellbender/Documents/Browne%20et%20al.%202014.pdf
nature.com/articles/nature01491
biologicaldiversity.org/species/amphibians/hellbender/natural_history.html
iucnredlist.org/search?taxonomies=101503&searchType=species
iucnredlist.org/species/59077/11879843
nature.com/scitable/definition/species-312
theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/how-a-pyramid-scheme-doomed-the-worlds-largest-amphibians/560786
theconversation.com/whats-in-a-name-when-it-comes-to-human-fossils-its-complicated-171569
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrias_davidianus_relief_map.svg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrias_japonicus_distribution.gif
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hellbender.png
bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_General_Biology_(Boundless)/18%3A_Evolution_and_the_Origin_of_Species/18.2%3A_Formation_of_New_Species/18.2D%3A_Allopatric_Speciation
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Images:
istockphoto.com/photo/the-living-fossil-japanese-giant-salamander-of-gifu-japan-gm983732124-267008155
youtu.be/2NS-ieEmEaw
youtu.be/GEFl3RV8G8E
youtu.be/uDFJGfeRAkE
eurekalert.org/multimedia/631246
storyblocks.com/video/stock/rare-blue-slug-in-yellow-leaves-bielzia-coerulans-or-land-slug-shell-less-terrestrial-gastropod-mollusc-endemic-to-carpathian-mountains-in-ukraine-eastern-europe-hjyzq3k2_kq8fym0l
storyblocks.com/video/stock/fern-in-forest-in-summer-s4eswvurxqji33d79u
eurekalert.org/multimedia/695762
youtu.be/LYNn7ftIg9s
youtu.be/bmJasGwSCZ4
youtu.be/mQ2ZzSQdtKg
youtu.be/xIipS2dWcJo
youtu.be/TBG4d24gAAg
youtu.be/68uSyQPhSws
eurekalert.org/multimedia/590772
youtu.be/fOlH2ISzquk
istockphoto.com/photo/eastern-hellbender-gm865843380-143841355
youtu.be/GoW3jzwYoy4
youtu.be/7IKQeDe75E0
istockphoto.com/photo/the-living-fossil-japanese-giant-salamander-of-gifu-japan-gm940321092-257060255
youtu.be/r_gPvN_6h4E
youtu.be/evyXXlEsKKg
youtu.be/OS6DuwYYaXM
istockphoto.com/photo/northern-leopard-frog-gm487660210-73067935
youtu.be/VwN9uNXI2J0