Randy Mullins, age 10, of Huntsville, Ala., for his question:
WHICH IS THE LARGEST AMPHIBIAN?
The amphibian we know best wears a wide smile on his froggy face, and he is just the right size to squat in the palm of your hand. But frogs are not the only amphibians in our world. There are shy little salamanders and a few giant salamanders. In certain tropical jungles are amphibians that look like overgrown earthworms called caecilians. Some of these are almost as long but not nearly as wide as the giant salamanders.
Once upon a time, the world was populated with amphibians that ranged from a few inches to eight feet long. This was 300 million years ago, when ferny coal forests thrived in the soggy swamps. The amphibians were the first backboned animals who left the seas to live on land.
Later, reptiles and other animals arrived, and the amphibians declined. About 3,000 species survived to modern times, but most are smallish frogs and salamanders. However, there still are a few giants in out of the way places though they are quite a bit smaller than their ancient ancestors.
As a matter of fact, one of these whopping amphibians lives in North America. He is a wide, flat salamander type, as wrinkled as a prune. We call him the hellbender and he prefers to keep out of sight on the muddy floor of some lazy stream. He feeds on fishes and other live meat. If you accidentally catch him on a fish hook, chances are he will make a grab at your finger.
Most of the giant salamanders live a long time, and an old hellbender may reach a length of 30 inches. He is, to be sure, a whopping amphibian but he is not the biggest of his tribe. The real giant salamanders enjoy life in certain streams of China and Japan. There the people try to catch them for, we are told, their meat is very tasty.
Some of the giant salamanders of Asia grow as long asfive feet and weigh as much as 90 pounds. They are almost as big as their giant ancestors that lived in the coal forests of long ago. But they are the la~gest living amphibians.
Experts divide the amphibians into three groups. One includes the warty toads and the smiling frogs. Another includes the salamanders, large and small. The third group is the caecilians, legless burrowers that live in certain tropical jungles. They look like skinny earthworms, and some are four and a half feet long. Other amphibians lay jellified eggs ¬but a few caecilians give birth to live babies.