This is no world for an axolotl

[light_triad]

Reminds me of the delightfully strange short story by the Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar:

‘Axolotl’ is narrated by a lonely man who regularly visits the local zoo, where he becomes fascinated by the axolotls in the aquarium. In time, he states that he, too, is an axolotl, and feels he has become one of them.

https://ambystoma.uky.edu/teachers_materials/axolitbook/Axol...

[rumori]

+1 really enjoyed the whole collection of short stories from Cortazar when I read it at uni.

https://www.amazon.com/Bestiary-Selected-Stories-Julio-Cort%...

[patrickscoleman]

love the story! i took a stab at translating it: https://pscoleman.me/blog/axolotl

[gsf_emergency_2]

Curiosity about the works of man >> curiosity about the "works" of "God"/"Nature"??? Ironic that this masterpiece is about an extreme form of the latter XD

[thedailymail]

"It has an impressive resume, being the most studied animal in the world, subject of more investigations than even the Drosophila melanogaster or common fruit fly that resides in thousands of laboratories around the world."

It would be great to have a source for this claim! Recent studies have estimated that between 10 million and 110 million (it's controversial!) lab mice are used per year in the US, representing 93–97% of all experimental animals.

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-many-mice-and-ra...

[fc417fc802]

It also just doesn't make any sense given how much cheaper and faster drosophila and c elegans both are.

> representing 93–97% of all experimental animals.

Experimental mammals maybe. Not animals in general.

[aa-jv]

The mice aren't being studied for their mice-ness, they've been industrialised for their ease-of-production and easy-to-slaughter mammalian analog attributes.

Wheras Axoloti and co., are still being studied for their unique characteristics.

[zh3]

Thanks to Minecraft and pester-power, we bought our son an axolotl some years ago on the condition he would look after it (figuring we'd end up looking after it anyway).

And since they live a long time it's given us an out every time he asks for a new pet ;)

[amy_petrik]

The other interesting things about axolots is they have what is called "neoteny" basically meaning the organism COULD proceed to adult form but never does - the natural axolotl is sort of a half-metamorphized creature for life, similar to a frog halfway through the tadpole->frog changes. You can induce the transformation with thyroid-type hormone stimulation (thyroid / TSH), which results in a salamander - essentially resurrecting this ancient morphology not seen in this world for a long time. Then the regenerative capabilities (seen in other amphibians as well) you can think of that as, "child humans heal better, what if the human is a child for life" in simplistic terms. There are also tradeoffs the organism makes i.e. ability to reproduce at a younger age (reproduction evolutionary win), and notably, the histology and cellular structures are simplified and less complex than say mammals, thusly making body parts easier to regenerate. It's also notable that amphibians have massive genomes, the axolotl being 10x the size of humans! - but with about the same number of genes, why? Well if mutations occur at random positions and you have ~10x more non-coding junk DNA, you've just lowered the frequency of mutations hitting coding genes, they are more likely to hit "safe" non-coding parts. All of this is important because if a mutation slips into the regenerated limb -> cancer, so we're de-risking mutations by having a massive genome https://www.mdpi.com/2221-3759/9/1/2

[aydyn]

I dont believe that last point is true. The processes that cause mutation (polymerase error, replication) are per base, not per genome.

[araes]

From the crowd source folks, here's the iNaturalist map on Axolotl (Ambystoma Mexicanum) [1][2]

[1] Species, Map, Observation Count: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/26777-Ambystoma-mexicanum

[2] Actual Observations with Pictures: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=true&tax...

Only six whole observations in the last decade. Most near Mexico City. Unfortunately, one of them's in the process of being eaten by a Clark's Grebe.

[turtleyacht]

Two years ago, Mexican ecologists start campaign to save axolotl - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38437747 (2023) (35 points, 9 comments).

Here is a link with a range of adoption plans:

https://www.ib.unam.mx/ib/unidades-investigacion/departament...

[nurettin]

Unlocks full regeneration capabilities and still going extinct while your average lizard can only do it for half a tail and still thrives.

[dhosek]

Amphibians are sadly, more susceptible to environmental toxins than reptiles are. I think it’s because their skin is more absorbent than reptile skin, but my biological knowledge is fairly limited.

[mitchbob]

https://archive.ph/FXjo6

[mhb]

"Many ask me, 'How do I say your name?'".

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgSGVvZlOz-/

[tanseydavid]

Well played. Thank you for that.

[croes]

> No, the usual trio of culprits are to blame:

Or just one: humans

[bbor]

Thanks for posting, I'm so excited to finally have a good summary! El Pais killing it, as usual. A comment and a challenging question:

1. We all pronounce it wrong apparently, even the Mexicans who just substitute "ach" for "ecs" -- it's actually "sh", and the l is basically silent. An interesting example of cultural heritage where I, a quite progressive person trying my best to be accommodating to all cultures, just flat out refuse to change! It's just one of the best words out there, and I will not give it up for anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d79EBJYJbuA

2. Why don't we set up sanctuaries?! I read the entire article, but if there was a reason that the Axolotl could only survive in this one super specific, uber-populated place, I missed it. Appearently it can't get cold, ok fine -- but Mexico is huge, not to mention the rest of the world! Are we so dedicated to Leave No Trace that we'll let this incredible, unique, inspiring species die out in the wild rather than cull some lake of predatory fish?

IMHO we need to be bolder about environmental design, because the changes are coming regardless; pretending like we can save everything is just lying to ourselves, especially as the global climate itself changes.

Just recently, the US Feds moved forward on a plan to institute owl hunting permits just to protect the range of a particular owl from being encroached on, which... I mean, how can you shoot an owl and think of yourself as the good guy?

[SpicyUme]

The article mentions other similar Ambystoma salamanders, it sounds like the others are less studied. I've come across old mexican recipes for Axolotls, probably something I'll never eat. The floating gardens were an environment that is likely hard to replicate in other places, though certainly not impossible. Looking at an early spanish map and comparing it to google maps makes it clear how much changed as the Spanish drained the lakes. The article also mentions that axolotls are significant predators so they may not be great to introduce to other places.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Patzcuaro_salamander https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plateau_tiger_salamander

[nkrisc]

> 1. We all pronounce it wrong apparently, even the Mexicans who just substitute "ach" for "ecs" -- it's actually "sh", and the l is basically silent. An interesting example of cultural heritage where I, a quite progressive person trying my best to be accommodating to all cultures, just flat out refuse to change! It's just one of the best words out there, and I will not give it up for anything.

It's OK for different languages and cultures to have different names for the same thing. You probably wouldn't bat an eye at saying "alligator" in English but it likely comes from the Anglicization of the Spanish "el lagarto" (the lizard).

Words from one language get adopted into other languages and modified all the time. A very large percentage of Modern English words are borrowed from various Romance languages, and others.

[dhosek]

The range used to be somewhat larger, but the environment has been reduced (most of what’s now Mexico city used to be a lake). It needs the right combination of climate and environment which doesn’t really exist outside of Mexico City (and that environment is constantly being encroached upon and degraded, although it is relatively protected at least).

It seems that many people know about the axolotl courtesy of Minecraft which on the one hand is cool because hey, now they know about this endangered species but on the other hand is not cool because a not insignificant number of them think, hey I want one as a pet which leads to poaching and death because neither poachers nor video gamers are adept at caring for fragile amphibians.

[loloquwowndueo]

No Mexican would call them “axolotl” (a Nahuatl word). The Spanish word is “ajolote” and pronunciation there is unambiguous.

[lukan]

"if one of its legs is cut off, a new limb will grow in a few hours, identical and pristine. The same process occurs with any other part of its awe-inspiring form"

I doubt this works with the head?

[mrweasel]

It apparently does work for their brain though, you probably can't remove the whole thing, but they can grow back large chunks of their brain: https://www.livescience.com/axolotls-can-regenerate-their-br...

[unfixed]

I wouldn't consider the head a limb to be honest.

[efremjw]

https://nextgenbiologics.com/index.html

[i_love_retros]

We're turning this planet into an absolute shithole!

[dmonitor]

At least Axolotls are practically guaranteed to survive in captivity as long as humans are prolific, thanks to their popularity as pets.

[vixen99]

Who can argue with that? Surely attempts are being made to find other freshwater locations where they can prosper?

[mc32]

Most advanced econs are not growing their native populations.

It’s other growing economies that are padding human pop numbers. China is about to start going backwards )pop decrease) like Japan and Italy.

Advanced econs are doing their jobs stabilizing pops; others are contributing to growth.

[goatlover]

Drill, baby, drill!

[giantfrog]

We’re really messing this place up huh

[krunck]

We can't keep making more people and expect the world to not change.

[tdb7893]

Humans will inevitably change the world but there's also lots of things that humans do that really increase their impact (global warming, farming that emphasizes really high land use foods, industrial pollutants, poor stewardship of land in general). I think just emphasizing population growth is ignoring tons and tons of decisions that we make

[sureIy]

Thankfully the course is reversing. Now the issue will be longer and longer lives, but we're working on reversing that too.

[CalRobert]

More people who eat 3 cows a week and drive a monster truck 40 miles each way to work? No. More people who mostly eat plants and mostly take the train or ride their bike where they need to go? Shouldn't be a big problem.

[nofunsir]

I already have a scroll bar. Enough with this js "ux" bs