A Tale of Two Nearly Extinct Giant Salamanders

In Japanese rivers, if you’re very lucky, you might find unusual amphibians that grow up to five feet long and look like strange cartoon dinosaurs. They are giant salamanders.“Salamanders are big, and they’re cool,” said Sena Ishikawa, a master’s student studying the animals at Kyoto University. “I just love them.”Such passion for the slippery species, which Japan has designated a “special national treasure,”…