Video: See huge Godzilla-like lizard filmed by a student on his way to school

A huge slithery beast resembling Godzilla has been spotted by a student in Japan.

Shocked teenager Yu filmed the rare salamander – which bizarrely has four toes on its front feet but five on their rear legs – on his way to Kyoto high school.

He called the police to guard it while it made its own way back to water.

Yu said: “I was just walking without really paying any attention to it but once I got close to it, it started to move.

“That’s when I realised it was this giant salamander and how I discovered it.”

Japanese giant salamanders are classed as “a near threatened species” and can grow half as big again as the one on Kyoto’s streets, up to 150cm.

Some species of salamander use self amputation to flee predators, with the tail falling off as it wriggles to distract the attacker.

Remarkably, after this autotomy the tail grows back. The slimy creatures can also regenerate parts of the eye.

These abilities are being studied by scientists who hope to use it in human surgery.