The Fish That Cries Like a Baby
In the mountain streams of China lives an amphibian almost two metres long, whose cry sounds like a human baby.
What was reported
In Chinese, the Chinese giant salamander is called 'wawa yu', the 'baby fish', because its call is said to sound like a crying infant. It lives in cold, fast mountain streams and caves in central and southern China, and was once found widely there.
Old stories describe strange creatures in mountain pools, and its size, up to 1.8 metres long, and its slippery, wrinkled skin made it the stuff of legend.
Explanations offered
It is the largest amphibian in the world, a living relative of species that lived alongside the dinosaurs. It is now critically endangered in the wild because of hunting and habitat loss, and genetic studies have found that it is actually several separate species.
- When
- Known for centuries
- Where
- Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China
- Witnesses
- Villagers and scientists
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.