Showing posts tagged axolotl
Scientists Discover Secrets to Salamander Limb Regeneration by Tanya Lewis Salamanders can regrow entire limbs and regenerate parts of major organs, an ability that relies on their immune systems, research now shows. A study of the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), an aquatic salamander, reveals that immune cells called macrophages are critical in the early stages of regenerating lost limbs. Wiping out these cells permanently prevented regeneration and led to tissue scarring. The findings hint at possible strategies for tissue repair in humans… (read more: Live Science)               (photo: Andrew Burgess/Shutterstock) View high resolution

Scientists Discover Secrets to Salamander Limb Regeneration

by Tanya Lewis

Salamanders can regrow entire limbs and regenerate parts of major organs, an ability that relies on their immune systems, research now shows.

A study of the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), an aquatic salamander, reveals that immune cells called macrophages are critical in the early stages of regenerating lost limbs. Wiping out these cells permanently prevented regeneration and led to tissue scarring. The findings hint at possible strategies for tissue repair in humans…

(read more: Live Science)              

(photo: Andrew Burgess/Shutterstock)

partlysmith: guys… I think I need help

(Reblogged from partlysmith)
Most Adorable Endangered Creature Ever? We’re saddened to learn that the alien-looking Axolotl salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum), aka Mexican walking fish or Mexican water monster, is seriously threatened with extinction because of habitat destruction and water pollution.  One of the coolest things about Axolotl - apart from their appearance - is they ability to regenerate most body parts. Read on for more details and photos… (read more: TreeHugger)          (image: Ethan Hein)

Most Adorable Endangered Creature Ever?

We’re saddened to learn that the alien-looking Axolotl salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum), aka Mexican walking fish or Mexican water monster, is seriously threatened with extinction because of habitat destruction and water pollution.  One of the coolest things about Axolotl - apart from their appearance - is they ability to regenerate most body parts. Read on for more details and photos…

(read more: TreeHugger)          (image: Ethan Hein)

Mythic Salamander Faces Crucial Test: Survival in the Wild Biologists are trying to preserve the axolotl, a creature that is one of the few natural links Mexicans still have to the Aztecs. By SOFIA CASTELLO Y TICKELL Aztec legend has it that the first axolotl, the feathery-gilled salamander that once swarmed through the ancient lakes of this city, was a god who changed form to elude sacrifice. ut what remains of its habitat today — a polluted network of canals choked with hungry fish imported from another continent — may prove to be an inescapable threat. “They are about to go extinct,” said Sandra Balderas Arias, a biologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico working to conserve axolotls in the wild. The loss of this salamander in its habitat would extinguish one of the few natural links Mexicans still have with the city that the Aztecs built on islands in a network of vast mountain lakes. Its extinction in the wild could also erase clues for scientists studying its mystifying traits. Despite their precarious future in freshwater, axolotls (pronounced axo-LO-tuhls) have long flourished in aquariums. They have been bred successfully behind glass over the past century, raised as exotic pets or as laboratory specimens for scientists investigating their extraordinary ability to regrow a severed limb or tail… (read more: NY Times)          (photo: Rodrigo Cruz) View high resolution

Mythic Salamander Faces Crucial Test: Survival in the Wild

Biologists are trying to preserve the axolotl, a creature that is one of the few natural links Mexicans still have to the Aztecs.

By SOFIA CASTELLO Y TICKELL

Aztec legend has it that the first axolotl, the feathery-gilled salamander that once swarmed through the ancient lakes of this city, was a god who changed form to elude sacrifice.

ut what remains of its habitat today — a polluted network of canals choked with hungry fish imported from another continent — may prove to be an inescapable threat.

“They are about to go extinct,” said Sandra Balderas Arias, a biologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico working to conserve axolotls in the wild.

The loss of this salamander in its habitat would extinguish one of the few natural links Mexicans still have with the city that the Aztecs built on islands in a network of vast mountain lakes. Its extinction in the wild could also erase clues for scientists studying its mystifying traits.

Despite their precarious future in freshwater, axolotls (pronounced axo-LO-tuhls) have long flourished in aquariums. They have been bred successfully behind glass over the past century, raised as exotic pets or as laboratory specimens for scientists investigating their extraordinary ability to regrow a severed limb or tail…

(read more: NY Times)          (photo: Rodrigo Cruz)

drinkintea asked: Hey I'm working on A project for university involving awareness the diminishing numbers of Axolotl in the wild, can you give me any interesting info? cheers


Axolotl Info

i think everything i have known or read would be here, mas o menos…

http://rhamphotheca.tumblr.com/tagged/axolotl

http://www.axolotl.org

(photo: Widdow Quinn)

earthlynation: The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), also called the ajolote, is an aquatic salamander that even has gills. This strange looking fellow is used extensively in scientific research due largely to its ability to regenerate most body parts as well how easily it can be bred. They are found mostly around Mexico City and are near extinction due to that city’s urbanization. source

earthlynation: The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), also called the ajolote, is an aquatic salamander that even has gills. This strange looking fellow is used extensively in scientific research due largely to its ability to regenerate most body parts as well how easily it can be bred. They are found mostly around Mexico City and are near extinction due to that city’s urbanization.

source

(Reblogged from theoceanrolls)
heybeast12: 365 Critters - Day 73 - Axolotl - Ben - Ontario, NY (critically endangered) Follow and “like” this project on Hey Beast Studio’s Facebook.

heybeast12:

365 Critters - Day 73 - Axolotl - Ben - Ontario, NY (critically endangered)

Follow and “like” this project on Hey Beast Studio’s Facebook.

(Reblogged from heybeast12)

lizardtakesflight: Dante the Cockatoo Amigurumi

(by KATZsAmigurumi on Etsy)

If you’re interested in buying this, or any of several other cute dolls, please do!  The artist is Hong Kong native trying to raise money to go to veterinary school  in the UK, and every little bit helps.

Chilita Lua is a 20-year old student who has been accepted at he University of Nottingham’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Science.  Veterinary courses are not offered in Hong Kong, so studying abroad is her only option.

Her dream is to specialize in exotic animal medicine, in the interest of preservation of herptofauna (reptiles and amphibians to us laypeople).

People who donate to her will recieve coupons for her Etsy shop, and contributors at the $1000 level will recieve 8 of her creations!

Please consider helping Chilita achieve her dream!

If you can’t donate, please reblog and help get the word out.  

(Reblogged from lizardtakesflight)

biomedicalephemera:

Top to Bottom:

  • Ambystoma mexicanum - The Axolotl
  • Necturus lateralis [now Necturus maculosus] - Common Mudpuppy
  • Hypochthon laurenlii [now Proteus anguinus] - The Olm or Proteus
  • Siren lacertina - Greater Siren

These four amphibians all have one major trait in common - neoteny, or the retention of juvenile traits in the otherwise-adult form. External gills are seen in many amphibious species as juveniles, but they almost always develop into internal gills that rely heavily on the lungs as adults.

However, in some environments, internal gills and gas exchange through porous skin doesn’t deliver enough oxygen to the animal, and the retention of the juvenile’s external gills is one of the ways amphibians have evolved to deal with this situation.

Axolotls, sirens, and mudpuppies are all North American species, with mudpuppies being endemic to the Mississippi valley and Deep South, sirens living along the East Coast, and Axolotls being highly endangered in the wild in Mexico (especially in caves around Mexico City). Olms are significantly more adapted to low-oxygen and light-free life compared to other neotenous salamanders, living in caves in the Central and Eastern European regions. They have no eyesight, and have chemo-, electro-, and mechanoreceptors on their broad and flattened snout.

Bilder-atlas zur wissenschaftlich popularen. Leopold Fitzinger, 1867.

(Reblogged from biomedicalephemera)
blackkittenclan: I’ll only break your heart.

blackkittenclan: I’ll only break your heart.

(Source: hologralien)

(Reblogged from blackkittenclan)
mothbooger:mahoshonen: Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)

mothbooger:mahoshonen: Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)

(Reblogged from eggcube)
scientificillustration: The Axolotl and the Mudpuppy n222_w1150 by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

scientificillustration: The Axolotl and the Mudpuppy

n222_w1150 by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

(Reblogged from patiogloire)
A leucistic Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) awaiting its meal of live worms (photo: Widdow Quinn) View high resolution

A leucistic Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) awaiting its meal of live worms

(photo: Widdow Quinn)

old photo of an Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) after metamorphosis into its adult/terrestrial form, an event that almost never happens, as most Axolotls are neotenic, retaining their larval traits (like external gills). View high resolution

old photo of an Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) after metamorphosis into its adult/terrestrial form, an event that almost never happens, as most Axolotls are neotenic, retaining their larval traits (like external gills).