London Zoo gets a new star... a giant Chinese Salamander called Professor Wu

 
Giant salamander: Professor Wu at the London Zoo
Alexandra Rucki16 December 2014

The largest amphibian in the UK is settling in to his new home at the London Zoo.

Chinese giant salamander Professor Wu arrived at the Zoological Society London Zoo (ZSL) at the end of last month from Rotterdam Zoo.

The 19-year-old has been brought over for a new conservation project to help research ways to prevent the giants from becoming extinct in the wild and was named after one of the project’s partners.

Professor Wu is the only Chinese giant salamander in the UK and can be seen in the Land of Giants exhibit at the zoo.

The animals are classified as the world’s largest amphibian and face threat of extinction because they are being over-harvested for human consumption.

Ben Tapley, team leader of the reptile and amphibian team, said: “Chinese giant salamanders may not be everyone’s idea of ‘beautiful’, but we think Professor Wu is more than capable of winning over our visitors.

“He’s an impressive size, measuring 1.3metres from snout to tail, and on top of that he has a feisty personality – it took a team of four of us to move him to his new custom-built home.

“As well as an exciting new arrival here at the Zoo, this giant salamander is a great representative for our ground breaking conservation project in China, where we really want to turn the fate of this critically endangered and evolutionary distinct species around.”

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