Giant meat-eating salamander captured in China!

A PARK ranger in southern China’s Heyuan City caught an enormous Chinese salamander that is the world’s largest living amphibian and is known as the ‘Living Fossil’ because it has remained unchanged for 170million years.

The giant salamander swimming in the water measured 83cm in length and weighed 5.5kg. It is listed as ‘critically endangered’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and a protected species in China. Despite its endangered species status, it is still regarded a delicacy among China’s super rich.

There is also a recent government crackdown on anyone found eating endangered species could receive a jail sentence of up to ten years. The giant salamander holds a treasured place in Chinese mythology and is called ‘wa wa yu’ — or ‘baby fish’ — in Chinese because its distress call sounds like the cry of a baby.

One man cleaned up an entire filthy riverbank

IT is rightly said that it only takes one person to change the world, and while Tommy Kleyn might not have been able to clean up every dirty waterway, he has set a truly inspirational example for all of us.

Tommy, from the Netherlands, was fed up of biking past the polluted waterfront on his way to work every day. He realised the mass of discarded bottles and bags bummed him out for about 30 minutes each day, so instead of whining about it, he decided to take action by vowing to spend 30 minutes each day picking up the rubbish. Tommy managed to fill one dustbin bag per outing. It was slow work, but to him, it was pretty satisfying.

After 22 bags of rubbish (and nearly as many blisters on his hands) Tommy was able to look over the difference he had made.