Axolotls
If the camel can be said to be a horse designed by a committee, then the axolotl really does leave one wondering what they were trying to put together.
One interesting facet of this creature is its name, variously translated as water-slave, water-servant, water-sprite, water-player, water-monstrosity or water-twin. Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, is a very complex language. A search for a more meaningful translation went on. Water-dog was another. Derived from atl, meaning water, and xolotl, meaning dog. The exact meaning, if there is one, is lost in the mists of time. It is likely the word had differing connotations depending on the context.
The meanings all related to Xolotl, an Aztec god with wide responsibilities, including:
- the dead and resurrected - in which role he took the form of a dog.
- games, hence the names water-sprite and water-player.
- monstrosities such as congenital deformities; and twins.
A myth relates these different responsibilities. Xolotl, while trying to escape banishment from Earth (death), assumed numerous forms, all grotesquely ugly or paired. He finally assumed the form of the axolotl and was captured, killed and relegated to nourishment of the sun and moon. The axolotl fits both requirements with its grotesque appearance and its double life. the transformation was, it seems, recognised locally even then.
These creatures are indigenous to Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco Southeast of Mexico City. Apart from us having them as pets, they have formed a part of the staple diet of the natives in Mexico and it is believed that they are also used for medicinal use, especially for respiratory infections, including tuberculosis.
The key to the fascination of the axolotl is its Peter Pan-like ability to avoid growing up. It is one of the amphibian species exhibiting "neoteny", which means that it can live out its full life and successfully breed as a larva.
Almost all of the urodeles develop from eggs through a larval tadpole-like stage with gills and a tail. They gradually grow legs and eventually metamorphose into adults, losing their gills. The axolotl, along with a number of other species, has the ability to remain as a larva, and indeed this is its normal state. The potential for metamorphosis under appropriate environmental conditions seem to be determined genetically.
The traditional methods by lowering the water level or even putting the axolotl in damp moss rather than water have always resulted in high death rates!
The life span of axolotls once metamorphosed is said to be reduced. The larval form is known to regularly survive 10-12 years, and a specimen kept at Covent Garden in London is reported to have lived 25 years.
I raised these two Mexican creatures from when they were mere 2 cm long babies. In nature the dark coloured axolotl predominates, but there are a few varieties, like white, golden or even harlequin (spotted). I was fortunate to get a brown and a white one. Their main diet is small pieces of fish, liver or ox heart. They eventually became so tame that they came and ate out of my hands.
Here they are resting at the bottom of my fish tank. Although you should not keep them with other fish in fear that they might be mistaken for food, my goldfish where quite big and they lived happily together.