We get a lot of requests to feature friends pets on Zooillogix. Some people just don't seem to get the fact that their golden retriever does not belong on a site devoted to bizarre zoology (you know who you are Mike Tippet of 2 Third St., Farfield, CT). However, Jennifer's axolotl, Big Ben, is a welcome guest.
Axolotl's are Mexican neotenic mole salamanders, which fail to go through metamorphosis as larvae and therefore retain their gills and aquatic nature. The axolotl was native to Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco in central Mexico, the latter of which no longer exists. However, lucky (?) for the axolotl, the critters are prized for their regenerative abilities and are frequently used for lab research. May we all be so lucky...
Big Ben at play (rest? hungry? sad?). His beedy eyes are quite emotive I think.
Big Ben in awful mood
Big Ben in good mood
Big Ben in reflective mood
Comments
Great picture! I first heard about these guys when I read Gould's 'Ontogeny and Phylogeny' in high school, and was absolutely fascinated by them. I didn't know that they were kept as pets!
Posted by: Anne-Marie | November 1, 2007 9:34 AM
You do notice you've got four captions and only three pics, right? Not that that makes them any the less apropriate (I'd stick captions 2 and 3 to the pic they bracket -- the closeup obviously gives him his best chance at some serious emoting).
(Actually the more I look at that shot the creepier it gets. What's he smiling about?)
Posted by: tikitu | November 2, 2007 10:43 AM