Leapin' lizards! Big salamanders are zoo's newest

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS (Texas)  19 February 99 - New!

This trade between San Antonio and Japan really was rare.

In ancient times, eggs laid by the giant salamander of Japan were consumed by pregnant women to ensure them bearing a healthy child.

This practice now is banned and the giant salamander, on the endangered species list, is protected by the Japanese government.

In 1952, Japan designated the giant salamander, which can lay as many as 500 eggs at one time, a special natural monument.

Until Thursday, people had to travel to Japan, Germany or Cincinnati to observe one of these amphibians, which can grow to as much as 52 inches long.

Now the San Antonio Zoo has eight of the rare giant salamanders, a species said to have survived from the Upper Jurassic period, some 140 million years ago.

The salamanders arrived Jan. 14 in the Alamo City, but didn't make their public debut until Thursday afternoon.

The eight salamanders - four males and four females - came to San Antonio from the Asa Zoological Park in Hiroshima, Japan, said John McLain, San Antonio Zoo curator of reptiles and the aquarium.

"The Asa Zoo has been a pioneer in breeding these salamanders in captivity and we hope to do the same," McLain said.

Germany also has had success in breeding giant salamanders. Similar efforts by the Cincinnati Zoo have not been as fruitful.

In exchange for assisting in the acquisition of the salamanders, the San Antonio Zoo supplied a snow leopard to the zoo in Kumamoto, Japan, McLain said.

Kumamoto is San Antonio's sister city.

The Pad, the zoo's amphibian facility, will be the salamanders' permanent new home. Chillers have been placed inside their terrariums to duplicate their aquatic habitat.

The Japanese species - like their Chinese cousins, also in danger of extinction - inhabit mountain rivers and streams.

Salamanders hide under rocks or river banks during the day and swim out at night.

"They don't like lights and we'll try to recreate their natural habitat and mimic the water temperatures they were normally getting in Japan," McLain said.

All eight are 8 years old - mere teen-agers, the zoo official added

"They're not sexually mature yet, but they're really great animals," McLain said.

At 15 to 24 inches - fully grown, they can measure up to 52 inches in length - the new additions to The Pad are small but "still pretty big for salamanders."

The giant salamander of Japan is closely related to the American hellbender, found primarily in the Ozark mountains.