5 ms·

What it takes to save the axolotl

109 points by samclemens 3y ago

bmacho 3y ago
https://archive.ph/20231205121702/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/science/mexico-axolotl-biology.html https://archive.ph/20231205121702/https://www.nytimes.com/20...
RetroTechie 3y ago
Even more saddening are the countless species going extinct that we don't know about (because fast-changing environments cause their extinction before humans ever encountered them - let alone study/describe). So much treasure, gone forever before anyone's even seen it.
- mandmandam 3y ago
  Fast-changing environments - like land getting clearcut, man made climate change, plastic / PFAS / Roundup / etc pollution ... I assume this is what you had in mind, but a horrifyingly large segment of the population seem unable to make the connections. A lot of money is being spent to keep it that way too.
  - Turing_Machine 3y ago
    > Fast-changing environments - like land getting clearcut, man made climate change, plastic / PFAS / Roundup / etc pollution ... Or the Chicxulub meteor strike.
    - plaidplanet 3y ago
      [flagged]
throw0101b 3y ago
Not to be confused with axlotl from Dune (spoilers for the books below): * https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Axlotl_Tank https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Axlotl_Tank
- bcraven 3y ago
  How on earth would you get them confused?
  - louthy 3y ago
    Presumably because ‘axolotl’ and ‘axlotl’ are very similar words?
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - mhb 3y ago
      How do you say its name: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgSGVvZlOz-/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/p/BgSGVvZlOz-/?hl=en
    - loloquwowndueo 3y ago
      You would never confuse ice with lice despite the similarity.
      - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
        And yet lots of people confuse "lose" with "loose"
        otreblatercero 3y ago
        If you loose it, you could lose it.
        loloquwowndueo 3y ago
        If you loosen*
        loloquwowndueo 3y ago
        And don’t get me started on “it’s” vs “its” :(
bgmbcghvmhvlkl 3y ago
[flagged]
cbolton 3y ago
A very interesting animal. A biology professor told me a story that went something like this: these animals were known for seemingly staying in a larval state for their whole life, an extreme case of neoteny. Scientists brought some specimens back to Europe to investigate. But when visitors came to witness the eternal larvae, they had actually started to transform into adults. It turns out a change of environment or other stress factor must have triggered the metamorphosis. These animals can "choose" to grow into adults or stay as larvae till the end.
- louthy 3y ago
  > These animals can "choose" to grow into adults or stay as larvae till the end. Just like professional DJs and rock-stars
  - popularrecluse 3y ago
    What do you do for a living so we can shit on it
    - escapecharacter 3y ago
      forum-poster, so similar.
    - louthy 3y ago
      An ex-pro DJ :D https://ra.co/dj/paullouth https://ra.co/dj/paullouth
      - blovescoffee 3y ago
        How did you go from DJing Fabric to a healthcare company? Haha, just genuinely curious
        louthy 3y ago
        That's not quite the path, but it sounds good haha! When I was in my early teens, just discovering electronic music for the first time (mid 80s) - but also teaching myself to program on a BBC Micro - I had two dream jobs for "when I grow up": 1. Write computer games 2. Be a rock star When I was 21 I moved to London to be the sole programmer on the PS1 sku of a game [1] for Eidos (didn't have any experience in that either). Then proceeded to work for 10 years in the games industry, before starting the healthcare company. During my 20s I also started running parties in London, which then turned into a major residency, and playing all over the world. But, mostly I focused my efforts on playing in London; the traveling part of DJing - although pretty rockstar-esque - is actually usually a few hours of fun surrounded by an epic amount of traveling/sitting in airports. So, because I already lived in probably the centre of the world when it came to music, I kept my focus there. I was earning enough from DJing to quit the Mon-Fri job, but what happened with games, during the period where I started getting success as a DJ, was that (although a good job) it became 'just-a-job'. So one of my dreams was slowly dying. I never wanted that to happen with music, so I never went ‘all in’, even though I could have done it because I was earning enough from it. It's a decision I'm glad I made, because music has always been fun, and I've never had to compromise or sell-out. And the rent has always been paid. So many of the people I came up with at the time, who are now on the downside of their career (not considered cool any more) are not in good places. Which is pretty hard to see. It happens to us all. Fabric is obviously the thing you pick up on, because it's one of the major world clubs: I played there every year for 6 years running (in the good years too, 2006-2012) and then nothing ever again. It can really knock you if you have nothing else to fall back on. The healthcare thing came about because I was ready to jump ship from games. And coincidentally I was recommended as a good programmer (by my old boss) to the people I am now partners with. Just a case of right time, right place, and right mental place for me ... I was ready to do something a bit more impactful. I knew nothing about healthcare either :D [1] https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainment-cancelled/ https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainme...
hunglee2 3y ago
it should be noted that this species is not actually in danger of extinction, as they are common in the pet trade and seem to be easily bred in captivity. Obviously a tragedy that wild populations are hanging on with these tiny populations but the species will survive in captive form, which can form 'reseeding' populations when their natural environment stabilises to sustain a breeding population
mattmaroon 3y ago
I saw a breeding facility they have at the zoo in Mexico City when I was there earlier this year and it was amazing.
csours 3y ago
It makes me really sad to think about the cool animals and plants that didn't make it to the modern age.
burkaman 3y ago
This article glosses over it a bit but the Xochimilco chinampas are absolutely incredible and worth visiting if you can find a good tour (not just the trajineras pictured in the article). Historically the entire area (and most of Mexico City) was a lake, and the chinampas were started as floating mats of reeds with enough soil on top to to grow crops. Every year you add a new layer of soil and fertilizer and the island sinks a little more, until eventually it is touching the bottom of the lake several hundred years later. The Wikipedia summary is good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinampa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinampa.
- civilitty 3y ago
  > the chinampas were started as floating mats of reeds with enough soil on top to to grow crops. Every year you add a new layer of soil and fertilizer and the island sinks a little more, until eventually it is touching the bottom of the lake several hundred years later. That description of chinampas is a popular misconception. They're "floating" in the sense that they're in the middle of a lake but there's no way to float any nontrivial amount of soil on top of mats of reeds, there just isn't enough buoyancy and a cubic meter of damp soil weighs over a metric ton. The reeds were used to create underwater fences that would keep the underwater pile of soil from spilling out into a giant mound, thus allowing the soil to be piled in a vertical pillar that easily reaches above the water. After the chinampa was filled, they planted trees along the corners and edges so that the roots would further hold the chinampa together. They added night soil dredged from the lake on top every year to replenish the nutrients and replace the soil that gets eroded away by the lake but they're filled to the bottom when they're built.
dekhn 3y ago
https://ambystoma.uky.edu/teachers_materials/axolitbook/AxolotlByJulioCortazar.html https://ambystoma.uky.edu/teachers_materials/axolitbook/Axol...
neonate 3y ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20231206085505/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/science/mexico-axolotl-biology.html https://web.archive.org/web/20231206085505/https://www.nytim...

109 points by samclemens 3y ago

https://archive.ph/20231205121702/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/science/mexico-axolotl-biology.html https://archive.ph/20231205121702/https://www.nytimes.com/20...

RetroTechie 3y ago

Even more saddening are the countless species going extinct that we don't know about (because fast-changing environments cause their extinction before humans ever encountered them - let alone study/describe). So much treasure, gone forever before anyone's even seen it.

mandmandam 3y ago
Fast-changing environments - like land getting clearcut, man made climate change, plastic / PFAS / Roundup / etc pollution ... I assume this is what you had in mind, but a horrifyingly large segment of the population seem unable to make the connections. A lot of money is being spent to keep it that way too.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  > Fast-changing environments - like land getting clearcut, man made climate change, plastic / PFAS / Roundup / etc pollution ... Or the Chicxulub meteor strike.
  - plaidplanet 3y ago
    [flagged]

throw0101b 3y ago

Not to be confused with axlotl from Dune (spoilers for the books below): * https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Axlotl_Tank https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Axlotl_Tank

bcraven 3y ago
How on earth would you get them confused?
- louthy 3y ago
  Presumably because ‘axolotl’ and ‘axlotl’ are very similar words?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - mhb 3y ago
    How do you say its name: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgSGVvZlOz-/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/p/BgSGVvZlOz-/?hl=en
  - loloquwowndueo 3y ago
    You would never confuse ice with lice despite the similarity.
    - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
      And yet lots of people confuse "lose" with "loose"
      - otreblatercero 3y ago
        If you loose it, you could lose it.
        loloquwowndueo 3y ago
        If you loosen*
      - loloquwowndueo 3y ago
        And don’t get me started on “it’s” vs “its” :(

bgmbcghvmhvlkl 3y ago

[flagged]

cbolton 3y ago

A very interesting animal. A biology professor told me a story that went something like this: these animals were known for seemingly staying in a larval state for their whole life, an extreme case of neoteny. Scientists brought some specimens back to Europe to investigate. But when visitors came to witness the eternal larvae, they had actually started to transform into adults. It turns out a change of environment or other stress factor must have triggered the metamorphosis. These animals can "choose" to grow into adults or stay as larvae till the end.

louthy 3y ago
> These animals can "choose" to grow into adults or stay as larvae till the end. Just like professional DJs and rock-stars
- popularrecluse 3y ago
  What do you do for a living so we can shit on it
  - escapecharacter 3y ago
    forum-poster, so similar.
  - louthy 3y ago
    An ex-pro DJ :D https://ra.co/dj/paullouth https://ra.co/dj/paullouth
    - blovescoffee 3y ago
      How did you go from DJing Fabric to a healthcare company? Haha, just genuinely curious
      - louthy 3y ago
        That's not quite the path, but it sounds good haha! When I was in my early teens, just discovering electronic music for the first time (mid 80s) - but also teaching myself to program on a BBC Micro - I had two dream jobs for "when I grow up": 1. Write computer games 2. Be a rock star When I was 21 I moved to London to be the sole programmer on the PS1 sku of a game [1] for Eidos (didn't have any experience in that either). Then proceeded to work for 10 years in the games industry, before starting the healthcare company. During my 20s I also started running parties in London, which then turned into a major residency, and playing all over the world. But, mostly I focused my efforts on playing in London; the traveling part of DJing - although pretty rockstar-esque - is actually usually a few hours of fun surrounded by an epic amount of traveling/sitting in airports. So, because I already lived in probably the centre of the world when it came to music, I kept my focus there. I was earning enough from DJing to quit the Mon-Fri job, but what happened with games, during the period where I started getting success as a DJ, was that (although a good job) it became 'just-a-job'. So one of my dreams was slowly dying. I never wanted that to happen with music, so I never went ‘all in’, even though I could have done it because I was earning enough from it. It's a decision I'm glad I made, because music has always been fun, and I've never had to compromise or sell-out. And the rent has always been paid. So many of the people I came up with at the time, who are now on the downside of their career (not considered cool any more) are not in good places. Which is pretty hard to see. It happens to us all. Fabric is obviously the thing you pick up on, because it's one of the major world clubs: I played there every year for 6 years running (in the good years too, 2006-2012) and then nothing ever again. It can really knock you if you have nothing else to fall back on. The healthcare thing came about because I was ready to jump ship from games. And coincidentally I was recommended as a good programmer (by my old boss) to the people I am now partners with. Just a case of right time, right place, and right mental place for me ... I was ready to do something a bit more impactful. I knew nothing about healthcare either :D [1] https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainment-cancelled/ https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainme...

hunglee2 3y ago

it should be noted that this species is not actually in danger of extinction, as they are common in the pet trade and seem to be easily bred in captivity. Obviously a tragedy that wild populations are hanging on with these tiny populations but the species will survive in captive form, which can form 'reseeding' populations when their natural environment stabilises to sustain a breeding population

mattmaroon 3y ago

I saw a breeding facility they have at the zoo in Mexico City when I was there earlier this year and it was amazing.

csours 3y ago

It makes me really sad to think about the cool animals and plants that didn't make it to the modern age.

burkaman 3y ago

This article glosses over it a bit but the Xochimilco chinampas are absolutely incredible and worth visiting if you can find a good tour (not just the trajineras pictured in the article). Historically the entire area (and most of Mexico City) was a lake, and the chinampas were started as floating mats of reeds with enough soil on top to to grow crops. Every year you add a new layer of soil and fertilizer and the island sinks a little more, until eventually it is touching the bottom of the lake several hundred years later. The Wikipedia summary is good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinampa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinampa.

civilitty 3y ago
> the chinampas were started as floating mats of reeds with enough soil on top to to grow crops. Every year you add a new layer of soil and fertilizer and the island sinks a little more, until eventually it is touching the bottom of the lake several hundred years later. That description of chinampas is a popular misconception. They're "floating" in the sense that they're in the middle of a lake but there's no way to float any nontrivial amount of soil on top of mats of reeds, there just isn't enough buoyancy and a cubic meter of damp soil weighs over a metric ton. The reeds were used to create underwater fences that would keep the underwater pile of soil from spilling out into a giant mound, thus allowing the soil to be piled in a vertical pillar that easily reaches above the water. After the chinampa was filled, they planted trees along the corners and edges so that the roots would further hold the chinampa together. They added night soil dredged from the lake on top every year to replenish the nutrients and replace the soil that gets eroded away by the lake but they're filled to the bottom when they're built.

dekhn 3y ago

https://ambystoma.uky.edu/teachers_materials/axolitbook/AxolotlByJulioCortazar.html https://ambystoma.uky.edu/teachers_materials/axolitbook/Axol...

neonate 3y ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20231206085505/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/science/mexico-axolotl-biology.html https://web.archive.org/web/20231206085505/https://www.nytim...