What it takes to save the axolotl

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/science/mexico-axolotl-biology.html

by samclemens • 3 years ago

109 48 3 years ago

nytimes.com

bmacho• 3 years ago

https://archive.ph/20231205121702/https://www.nytimes.com/20...

throw0101b• 3 years ago

Not to be confused with axlotl from Dune (spoilers for the books below):

* https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Axlotl_Tank

bcraven• 3 years ago

How on earth would you get them confused?

louthy4• 3 years ago

Presumably because ‘axolotl’ and ‘axlotl’ are very similar words?

stronglikedan2• 3 years ago

An Axlotl tank or Axolotl tank was the "tank" by which the Bene Tleilax reproduced a living human being from the cells of a cadaver, producing type of clone called a ghola.
The name refers to a variety of salamander, and is from the Nahuatl words "atl" meaning water, and "xolotl" a shortening of “xoloizcuintle” or dog, therefore meaning "water dog". Both animals are tied to the Aztec psychopomp Xolotl. Axolotls have the capability to regenerate most of their body parts.

RetroTechie• 3 years ago

Even more saddening are the countless species going extinct that we don't know about (because fast-changing environments cause their extinction before humans ever encountered them - let alone study/describe).

So much treasure, gone forever before anyone's even seen it.

mandmandam• 3 years ago

Fast-changing environments - like land getting clearcut, man made climate change, plastic / PFAS / Roundup / etc pollution ...

I assume this is what you had in mind, but a horrifyingly large segment of the population seem unable to make the connections. A lot of money is being spent to keep it that way too.

Turing_Machine• 3 years ago

Fast-changing environments - like land getting clearcut, man made climate change, plastic / PFAS / Roundup / etc pollution ...

Or the Chicxulub meteor strike.

cbolton2• 3 years ago

A very interesting animal. A biology professor told me a story that went something like this: these animals were known for seemingly staying in a larval state for their whole life, an extreme case of neoteny. Scientists brought some specimens back to Europe to investigate. But when visitors came to witness the eternal larvae, they had actually started to transform into adults. It turns out a change of environment or other stress factor must have triggered the metamorphosis. These animals can "choose" to grow into adults or stay as larvae till the end.

louthy4• 3 years ago

These animals can "choose" to grow into adults or stay as larvae till the end.

Just like professional DJs and rock-stars

popularrecluse• 3 years ago

What do you do for a living so we can shit on it

doublemint2203• 3 years ago

disagree

vjk800• 3 years ago

According to my family, I'm a 35 year old man-child so apparently humans can do the same. I don't want to find an out if a strong enough stressor turns me into and adult or not.

bitwize2• 3 years ago

Try marrying. Nothing stresses you into a man like trying to forge a life with someone else.

sublinear• 3 years ago

Contrary to what others have replied there are much more stressful situations than being a father/husband and they're such that you may never want to be one!

I don't want to find an out if a strong enough stressor turns me into and adult or not.

Stress doesn't necessarily mean you have to grow up in the sense that you stop having fun. It just means you notice subtleties, know better, and are otherwise prepared for whatever life throws your way. In many ways this just makes life more fun.

pard68• 3 years ago

Sounds like your professor's story involved the cousin of the axolotl, the tiger salamander. They can live an entire life in a larval state or they can undergo metamorphosis. The axolotl cannot, their adult form is their larval one.

These two creatures are so often mistaken that most pet stores selling axolotls are actually selling tiger salamanders. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl

jdmichal• 3 years ago

The professor's story is potentially this one detailed in the very Wikipedia article you linked:

Six adult axolotls (including a leucistic specimen) were shipped from Mexico City to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris in 1863. Unaware of their neoteny, Auguste Duméril was surprised when, instead of the axolotl, he found in the vivarium a new species, similar to the salamander. [verification needed] This discovery was the starting point of research about neoteny. It is not certain that Ambystoma velasci specimens were not included in the original shipment. [citation needed] Vilem Laufberger in Prague used thyroid hormone injections to induce an axolotl to grow into a terrestrial adult salamander. The experiment was repeated by Englishman Julian Huxley, who was unaware the experiment had already been done, using ground thyroids. [39] Since then, experiments have been done often with injections of iodine or various thyroid hormones used to induce metamorphosis. [16]

cbolton2• 3 years ago

I don't recall clearly so that's certainly possible, but it seems the Axolotl does have the capability of spontaneous metamorphosis. Here are quotes from some publications I found.

First, regarding the first individuals imported in Europe [1]:

"In November 1865, Duméril issued another report to the Académie des sciences. One of the axolotls had started to become “markedly different from the other axolotls of the same age.” Soon, others followed. The external gills disappeared, and the form of their heads and bodies changed along with their coloration. Several animals that were born in the Collection had left the water and had transformed into a land-dwelling form. They had become what Duméril called “ambystomes.”"

Then this extract of a Master's thesis [2]:

"Six A. mexicanum were transferred to Paris where Dumeril (1870) subsequently reported that individuals reproduced in an aquatic, larval state and that some of the resulting offspring underwent a metamorphosis. Smith (1989) suggests that some of the original stock that arrived in Paris included closely related members of the Tiger salamander species complex, that are capable of expressing a paedomorphic or metamorphic life history. However, it seems likely that domestication altered the penetrance for expressing paedomorphosis and the original axolotl stock was pure A. mexicanum that maintained a higher propensity to express metamorphosis in nature (Voss & Shaffer, 2000). Even though metamorphic forms have been culled from the Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center axolotl collection for decades, the frequency of spontaneous metamorphosis is only 1–2%, with a 10% frequency observed if A. mexicanum experience stressful conditions (Randal Voss, unpublished data)."

And this from a book chapter [3]:

"The modern axolotl strain used in most laboratories is a highly inbred population that most likely arose from a donation of seven wild axolotls (six wild-type and one white mutant) between 1863 and 1866 to the Paris Natural History Museum [6] . In fact, most modern-day laboratory axolotls likely have a direct lineage to these founders, and all white mutants are descendants from this single white animal [7]. A few wild-caught axolotls were introduced into the colony strain in the 1960s including an albino tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) [8], but overall the present-day laboratory strain is likely one of the most long-running inbred strains of any laboratory species. The 150-year history of laboratory breeding seems to have selected against spontaneous metamorphosis (currently <1 % frequency), as it is more prevalent in wild strains than the lab strain [7, 9]. The most extensive colony of laboratory axolotls is maintained at the Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center (AGSC)"

In particular this part: "The 150-year history of laboratory breeding seems to have selected against spontaneous metamorphosis (currently <1 % frequency), as it is more prevalent in wild strains than the lab strain."

[1] https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/full/10.1484/J.CNT.5.13210...

[2] https://uknowledge.uky.edu/biology_etds/13/

[3] https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-4939-2495-0...

hunglee2• 3 years ago

it should be noted that this species is not actually in danger of extinction, as they are common in the pet trade and seem to be easily bred in captivity. Obviously a tragedy that wild populations are hanging on with these tiny populations but the species will survive in captive form, which can form 'reseeding' populations when their natural environment stabilises to sustain a breeding population

mattmaroon• 3 years ago

I saw a breeding facility they have at the zoo in Mexico City when I was there earlier this year and it was amazing.

csours• 3 years ago

It makes me really sad to think about the cool animals and plants that didn't make it to the modern age.

burkaman• 3 years ago

This article glosses over it a bit but the Xochimilco chinampas are absolutely incredible and worth visiting if you can find a good tour (not just the trajineras pictured in the article). Historically the entire area (and most of Mexico City) was a lake, and the chinampas were started as floating mats of reeds with enough soil on top to to grow crops. Every year you add a new layer of soil and fertilizer and the island sinks a little more, until eventually it is touching the bottom of the lake several hundred years later.

The Wikipedia summary is good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinampa.

civilitty• 3 years ago

the chinampas were started as floating mats of reeds with enough soil on top to to grow crops. Every year you add a new layer of soil and fertilizer and the island sinks a little more, until eventually it is touching the bottom of the lake several hundred years later.

That description of chinampas is a popular misconception. They're "floating" in the sense that they're in the middle of a lake but there's no way to float any nontrivial amount of soil on top of mats of reeds, there just isn't enough buoyancy and a cubic meter of damp soil weighs over a metric ton.

The reeds were used to create underwater fences that would keep the underwater pile of soil from spilling out into a giant mound, thus allowing the soil to be piled in a vertical pillar that easily reaches above the water. After the chinampa was filled, they planted trees along the corners and edges so that the roots would further hold the chinampa together. They added night soil dredged from the lake on top every year to replenish the nutrients and replace the soil that gets eroded away by the lake but they're filled to the bottom when they're built.

dekhn• 3 years ago

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

neonate• 3 years ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20231206085505/https://www.nytim...

What it takes to save the axolotl

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