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Comment by janalsncm | Hacker News Reader

Indeed, most axolotls in Wales are Welsh axolotls.

But I do wonder how many do live in Wales. If it’s not just an abandoned pet that would be really interesting.

It is absolutely an abandoned pet. They cannot survive outside the tropics. Hell, they can't even survive outside the 2 lakes in Mexico City that they're hyperadapted to

There are less than 1,000 of them in the wild. Trust me if it was possible to establish a population somewhere else outside of captivity, scientists and conservationists would already be on it

> It is absolutely an abandoned pet.

That. Or the family fabricated the story for online fame.

Not saying that i have any evidence either way. Fundamentaly it is an unverifiable feel-good story with great online “viral” potential. It might be a very lucky axolotl who got abandoned, found and re-captured in the short window it could survive in the wild. It can also be a viral content strategy capturing eyeballs. In my, admitedly very jaded, guestimate I would give the two options about equal chances.

Yes I simply do not understand how these kind of stories pass the editors except that they are not important if wrong.

If this was some kind of crime they would have censored information for a long while if not clearly correct.

We used to keep similar axolotls as pets. I believe the abandoned pet thing - they are fun for a while but then you wonder what to do with them. We donated ours and the tank to a school. They'd probably survive a while in the wild in the summer but I'm not sure they'd like winter much.

Examples in the wild are - bar the possibility of an albino example - all dark skinned. The pink/light skinned ones are the results of mutations and ultimately selective breeding in the pet population.

So is it likely this one merely escaped? I find it hard to believe someone who would own one of these would not be an enthusiast, and that enthusiasts wouldn't find another owner for a critically endangered species rather than merely drop it under a local bridge.

No it is extremely unlikely this is an "escape". This would be lucky to survive for a week in Europe. Almost certainly what happened is someone bought one and then realized they are too complicated to take care of and decided to dump it in a spot they thought looked pretty

Also there are 1,000 of these in the wild but there are over a million of them in captivity. You can get a typical morph for about $50.

It's this, for sure. An axolotl is not going to live in the wild. I own a home near a public pond. There are pretty much always fancy goldfish swimming in it during the time of the year that everyone moves out. People just decide not to keep their fish.

> I find it hard to believe someone who would own one of these would not be an enthusiast

You underestimate how many people lack impulse control or consideration over their choices, and their lack of understanding of consequences when buying a living organism.

>It is absolutely an abandoned pet.

Or from a university or some other sort of lab.

>They cannot survive outside the tropics.

They don't live in the tropics at all. While Mexico City is technically in the tropics, the elevation makes it subtropical, with more spring-like temps than warm summer-like temps.

Not an axolotl, but mud puppies live as far north as Canada and have external gills: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_mudpuppy

Olm in the Balkans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P_anguinus-head1.jpg

Very cool but yes very much not an axolotl.

An axolotl is a salamander that has evolved neoteny (imagine a frog staying as a tadpole its whole life). It's also specifically adapted to a specific lake system in Mexico City. If it is kept in water under 57°F (14°C) it will die in a few days. They are also extremely sensitive to changes in the water quality or chemistry. It's not clear that this one will even survive after being rescued

>An axolotl is a salamander that has evolved neoteny

That's not that rare, all sorts of different salamanders exhibit neoteny.

I’m surprised no one is bringing up the possibility that this is just a salamander in its axolotl looking stage of life.

FTA: the nine-inch Mexican axolotl

There aren’t many baby salamanders that size, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_giant_salamander#Breed... says “external gills remain until a length of about 20 cm (8 in) at an age of 3 years”, so it could be. I wouldn’t know whether these look similar, though.

Sure, but mud puppies and Olm also exhibit neoteny.

From the article it doesn't appear they've ever been found alive in the wild anywhere but their natural habitat. This was likely a remarkable chance happening where an owner released one and she found it within close succession or else it likely would have died very quickly.

If there is a wild population, that would be an even more amazing story.

I did think it was strange they didn't spell that out though. Maybe they thought 'Mexican' makes it clear, but it reads too easily like a species name.

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