Talk:Axolotl

Template:WikiProject GeneticsThis species is the star of a short story by Julio Cortázar. "Axolotl," published in 1952 in Spanish, is about a young man who spends a lot of time observing an aquarium full of axolotls at a garden in Paris.

He is a writer and imagines the aquatic salamanders have more intellectual freedom than he does. They have the luxury to sit in their tank all day and ponder. He observes them almost every day and becomes obsessed.

He emphasizes their halted development. They are neither mature land dwellers nor squirmy little tadpoles -- they're between two stages. He also attaches importance to the little design on their heads. I think he describes it as an "Aztec" symbol.

Then the narration shifts dramatically.

I'm not going to spoil what happens but the writer does end up learning that he has no way of understanding how "the other" thinks or lives without experiencing life on the other side of the glass tank. He realizes he has just been projecting ideas onto these creatures that cannot express themselves to prove their observers wrong. As a writer, self-expression is vital to him.

It's a really fascinating story -- in Spanish and English.

There's an English version here: http://www.cis.vt.edu/modernworld/d/axolotl.html

Lake Chalco & Mudpuppies

According to various internet sources (including Wikipedia itself), Lake Chalco no longer exists . "Starting during the Aztec era and continuing into 20th century, efforts were made to drain Lake Chalco and her sister lakes in order to avoid periodic flooding and to provide for expansion. The only of these lakes still in existence is a diminished Lake Xochimilco." Furthermore, since the axolotl is an endangered species native only to Lake Chalco and Lake Xochimilco, I see it somewhat prudent to enter this information into the article on axolotls.

Also, why is the [Mudpuppy] habitat described under Axolotl Habitat? Call me crazy, but it seems a bit nonrelevent. I'll remove this information and place a note about mudpuppies near the article's begining. Hope noone minds too terribly much, but in my opinion it cleans the article up.

I haven't editted on Wikipedia before, so feel free to improve my update. Tlasco Rydrion 23:30, 4 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation and photos

How do you pronounce 'axolotl'? Also, does anyone have any photographs of a fully metamorphosed ('adult') axolotl that they could add to the article? 217.34.39.123 09:15, 9 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's pronounced "axle-ottle". --Candy-Panda 09:16, 14 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

- Yes, and I believe it was Groucho Marx who said "I'd rather have an axolotl in front of me than a frontal lobotomy". Or something like that. --CliffC 12:37, 14 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

- I believe it's a nahuat (an aztec language) and the 'x' was used by the spanish to represent a 'sh' sound, as in 'shield'. If this is so then the first bit would be pronounced "ash-olottle".

Bingo, a quick search turns up this <http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/dice/research/azaxs/english/project/glossary.htm>
"The word is Náhuatl (the language spoken by the Aztecs) and is properly pronounced "ashólotl".

I also believe that the 'tl' is a representation of a sound familiar in Welsh, where it is written 'LL' and pronounced as a kind of aspirated, hissy letter L.

It would be much better if a Nahuatl speaker could comment though.

jan Water pepper (talk) 23:35, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Critically endangered???

Are axolotls really critically endangered? Because if they were I don't think our highschool science class would be allowed to have one as a pet. I mean seriously... --Candy-Panda 07:19, 8 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As of recently, I believe, surveys have been unable to find any living in the wild at all. They're still commonly bred in captivity, though. Aaronstj 19:38, 20 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What we see in captivity is the result of more than 100 years of selective breeding. Indeed, most of the axolotls available for use in high school laboratories are albino or carry albinism. This gene was "artificially" introduced into the axolotl by scientific experiments carried out by Professor Humphrey in the mid 20th century using an albino tiger salamander. This alone makes the Axolotl as we know it quite a distinct organism to the original wild species found in Xochimilco. -John Clare of axolotl.org, Mavortium 00:39, 16 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In addition, recent studies have shown that the "genes" (actually alleles) associated with neoteny are now fixed and linked in captive populations (meaning nearly every individual has all the neoteny genes). The genes are not linked wild axolotls - allowing more transformation and meaning that individuals may have all, some, or none of the associated genes. This is due to transformed individuals being removed from the captive breeding stocks for many generations, causing artificial selection for neoteny. LaurenCole 16:25, 16 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That's an excellent example of selective breeding. John Clare 19:35, 17 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Aquarium keeping

Can somebody tell me what the ideal pH for axolotls are? I think that having the temperature up is good, but it's rather lacking in other areas (tankmates etc)

6.5-8PH, 7.3-7.6 is ideal. I have added this in the past but it has been deleted. Have re-added. -Sas

Metamorphosis

[1] 86.132.141.14 (talk) 20:22, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

References

I added a few references to start. The Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center at the University of Kentucky has excellent resources for this article and should be cited in the captive care and husbandry section.Enviropearson (talk) 16:26, 29 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can the "this article doesn't cite sources" tag now be removed? Enviropearson (talk) 16:27, 29 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ajolote?

If this is an ajolote, then what is this burrowing creature?[2] I think it's a Mexican Mole Lizard? Should ajolote be a disambig? -- Kendrick7^talk 05:45, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I've gone ahead and disambiguated this. -- Kendrick7^talk 02:05, 25 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

So I herd u liek...

I know uttering the word "mudkip" on wikipedia is a sure way to make half your editors' heads explode (and nothing of value was lost), but I'm voting to include a section on axolotl's influence on that particular pokemon; I'm sure most of this page's traffic is directed from ED's page on mudkip.