piaalexa
Member
Hi Everyone,
I am from Cape Town, but living in Johannesburg for the next three years completing my PhD in Palaeontology. Our department at the University of Witwatersrand ("Wits" for short) received some axolotls for a couple months. Their short time with us really got me interested in these unique animals, and my hope is to one day get some permanent ones for our department. This is because they are a great example to show visitors (we get a lot of children coming to the museum in our building) how evolution of limbs may have occurred and why. Also for myself personally, their retention of juvenile traits (neoteny) and their ability to regrow damaged limbs is fascinating. I hope to learn more about axolotls from joining the forums, and talking to many people across the world who keep them. It is terribly sad to think that their natural habitat (now canalised lakes of Mexico City) is basically destroyed, but hopefully with their popularity growing in being kept at universities for teaching, and as pets, they will be around still for many generations to come.
I am from Cape Town, but living in Johannesburg for the next three years completing my PhD in Palaeontology. Our department at the University of Witwatersrand ("Wits" for short) received some axolotls for a couple months. Their short time with us really got me interested in these unique animals, and my hope is to one day get some permanent ones for our department. This is because they are a great example to show visitors (we get a lot of children coming to the museum in our building) how evolution of limbs may have occurred and why. Also for myself personally, their retention of juvenile traits (neoteny) and their ability to regrow damaged limbs is fascinating. I hope to learn more about axolotls from joining the forums, and talking to many people across the world who keep them. It is terribly sad to think that their natural habitat (now canalised lakes of Mexico City) is basically destroyed, but hopefully with their popularity growing in being kept at universities for teaching, and as pets, they will be around still for many generations to come.
