
How a Pyramid Scheme Doomed the World’s Largest Amphibians - bb88
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/how-a-pyramid-scheme-doomed-the-worlds-largest-amphibians/560786/?single_page=true
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carapace
Sounds click-baitey but is actually (IMHO) pretty interesting (and kinda sad
and crazy.)

> From 2004 onward, the number of farms grew rapidly. The government
> encouraged them as a way of boosting the fortunes of otherwise poor rural
> areas. Official licenses were issued, but many farms ran illicitly. By 2011,
> they held around 2.6 million salamanders between them. In some counties,
> salamander farming became the main industry.

> Bizarrely, only 3 percent of the animals raised by the farms are eventually
> sold to restaurants. The rest are sold to more start-up farms.

