Mexico City’s ‘water monster’ nears extinction

[archerships]

Mexico City’s ‘water monster’ nears extinction

Crap, axolotl’s are one of my favorite creatures.

“The number of axolotls (pronounced ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl) in the wild is not known. But the population has dropped from roughly 1,500 per square mile in 1998 to a mere 25 per square mile this year, according to a survey by Zambrano’s scientists using casting nets.”

Original: craschworks - comments

Comments

[pbrane.livejournal.com]

Well, they're nowhere near *extinction* - they just don't live in the wild anymore (tons of them are in biology labs [the regenerate amazingly, people don't understand why that well], and you can still find them in pet stores sometimes).

I had a bunch in college - 3 adults (Solomon, Ella [get it?], and Thor - an albino), and bred a whole generation of their kids (but only Gigantor, Yeltsin, and Jesus survived to adulthood). Solomon lived for *9 years* in fact, over a move from Santa Cruz, to Seattle, to Mountain View, to Eugene OR, and finally back to the Seattle area (4 different moves there!). He was buried under the family xmas tree that we bought the year he died.

I need to get me some more Axolotls. Those critters are awesome. Its like they have big fluffy lungs *outside their head*!

[blackburntrose.livejournal.com]

I wondered why I'd heard of axolotls, and, then, I remembered reading this: http://fuckyoupenguin.blogspot.com/2009/03/no.html

[neoteny.livejournal.com]

It's a fun word to read and to say - I first encountered it in Dune.

[seidhr.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is sad. They're the cutest little guys ever.