That is an Axolotl. The only place you will see those guys now are in captivity. Only 2 have been sighted alive (at the time) in the wild. Their numbers began to decline in 1998, and they were listed as Critically Endangered in 2006. Predictions were made in early 2012 that they were going to be extinct in the wild by the end of 2013. They were a little bit off with that estimate, as they've only just been found to be 'extinct'. I have two of them. A moment of silence for my axolotl's fallen brethren.
I feed them bloodworms and Earthworms. At the moment, they are mostly eating bloodworm, because worms aren't very abundant in my garden throughout November - April.
One of mine lost a bit of his tail to the other once They were both looking for food. One saw movement and snapped. It grew back, which shouldn't come as a surprise. They can regrow most parts of their brain, heart and basically everything in their body
I have heard of axolotls, I may have done some research on them once, I remember them from something. Cute little creatures. A moment of silence to them, take care of yours Soul!
Originally, they were only brown and black. Since we started captive breeding them in the 80's, they have mutated and ended up with albino variants. Captive-bred ones can't be released into the wild. They spread a lethal fungus, unfortunately This new 'extinction' just goes to show that amphibians are now leading the next extinction event. Amphibians get more fungal infections and diseases, and us polluting their waters doesn't help too much.
Well, they thought the coelacanth was extinct for over a hundred years then they found a crap ton There's still hope!
I doubt it. They only lived near Mexico City in two lakes, and one was drained, so they all died in that one. The other one is a just a bunch of canals that sewage gets tipped into
They can regenerate their brains and hearts? Why are we not protecting them to study how they do it?! This could save the lives of not only many people, but numerous animals as well.
We are. That's why we have them in labs, studying how they do it. So far, we've only found out that it produces stem cells and the affected organ/limb/whatever is treated like the animal is still an embryo. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=635825036433963&l=4208640481318092564 Wouldn't let me embed it, sorry. Also, the video is a year old now. I also had a cold at the time, so excuse the heavy breathing
Do they even sell these in England? I know you are from England Soul, but I have never seen these around before! Only images
I got my two off a private breeder, and they were eggs. They cost £20, which is about $34. I got 24 of them, and only 2 lived In my 'local' (it's in a different town ) exotic pets store, for one of their axolotls its £35, which is around $60. I wouldn't reccomend buying it from a shop though, because they usually aren't treated right. My friend got two of them from a store, and one was a cannibal because of the conditions it was living in. It ended up eating the other one, and... well... it kinda suffered fatal organ damage >.>
Yes They're relatively unheard of in this country though And the shops that do sell them usually only have three in at a time, and people want them, so they're all gone within an hour