r/Awwducational • u/IdyllicSafeguard • 10d ago
Verified The Lake Pátzcuaro salamander is only found in a single lake in Mexico, with an estimated population of less than 100 left in the wild. A close relative of the axolotl, this salamander also retains many of its larval traits into adulthood — but it can still grow up to 35 cm (13.8 in) long.
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u/IdyllicSafeguard 10d ago edited 10d ago
Sources:
The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund
EAZA Amphibian Taxon Advisory Group
Google Maps - Lake Pátzcuaro
CNN - Lake Pátzcuaro disappearing
(edit: typo)
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u/One_Kaleidoscope_749 10d ago
And here's me thinking it looks like Toothless from How to Train a Dragon 😅
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u/VirtualBrick2 6d ago
I had a pet Axolotl when I was younger called Toothless!
Loved that lil dude, he had a massive tank and I'd just watch him for ages lol
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u/IdyllicSafeguard 10d ago
What do you get when you combine a rare salamander, a disappearing lake, some Dominican nuns, and cough syrup? (This isn't a lead-in to a joke, I promise). You get the strange story of Lake Pátzcuaro salamander.
This rare salamander is endemic to a single lake (Lake Pátzcuaro), in the western Mexican state of Michoacán. While the lake is the third largest in Mexico — some 130 km² (81 mi²) — the entire range of the species is thought to fall within an area of just 10 km² (3.8 mi²).
The Lake Pátzcuaro salamander is a relative of the more famous axolotl (both are in the genus Ambystoma), and like the axolotl, it also exhibits neoteny — it becomes sexually mature while still retaining most of their larval traits, such as a flattened tail and external, frilly gills. The Lake Pátzcuaro salamander also retains its superpower-like regenerative abilities, easily able to heal tissues and regrow entire limbs.
Unfortunately, this salamander's regenerative abilities have also made it attractive to humans hoping to share in its "eternal youth" — mostly via consumption. Such as the local P’urhépecha people, who have traditionally made the salamander into a soup.
At the same time, the P’urhépecha have long worshipped this salamander as a twin to the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl — seemingly their version of the Aztec god Xolotl, typically associated with the axolotl.