Axolotls

 

Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

On holiday recently, a ten-year-old girl found an axolotl under a bridge over the River Ogmore in Bridgend. Experts said that the axolotl would have died if she had not rescued it, either as a tasty morsel, or because of conditions to which it was not suited. It is possible, though not proven, that this specimen was an unfortunate pet that had outgrown its fascination for its owner. Such is the fate of many creatures.

Axolotls are found in the wild only in the lakes of the Mexican Central Valley. They are a critically endangered species.  They are named after Xolotl, the Aztec god of fire and lightning. The legend holds that he turned himself into an axolotl to avoid sacrifice by other gods. Axolotls are an important feature in Mexican culture, appearing in murals and on bank notes.

They are bred in captivity for research purposes, because they have an extraordinary ability to regenerate parts of their bodies, including limbs, and parts of their eyes, brains, and hearts.

They are neotenic, meaning that they reach maturity without metamorphosing from a fully aquatic form to an amphibious being, as salamanders or tadpoles do. Consequently, they retain their feathery gills and live their entire lives in water.

            They can be triggered into metamorphosis in laboratory conditions through an injection of iodine or thyroxine. Following that, the gills and fins are resorbed, while lungs develop, and eyelids grow, allowing them to adapt to life on land. They then resemble salamanders, though differences are visible. For example, a metamorphosed axolotl’s toes are longer than a salamander’s!

Wild axolotls are carnivorous, preying on small fish, worms, molluscs and other aquatic beasts. They are attracted to food by smell, and suck it into their stomachs. They have teeth, but they are vestigial and serve no practical purpose. The average lifespan of a wild axolotl is five years, though some manage to survive for ten. In captivity, they typically live between ten and fifteen years, though exceptionally, some can reach twenty years.

Axolotls become sexually mature between eighteen and twenty-four months, and reproduce through external fertilisation. The average length of a mature axolotl is 23 cms (9 inches) though there is some variation.

Concern about the axolotl’s decline has led to attempts to release captive-bred individuals, but the very real fear is that they will suffer the same fate as wild-bred animals. Pollution, the introduction of non-native predators, and greater urbanisation, all threaten the future of these fascinating creatures.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Leaning Lighthouses

 

Leaning Lighthouses

El Faro Inclinado, Mexico

                                Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Leaning Lighthouse of Puerto Morelos, Mexico, 'El Faro Inclinado', is a distinctive blue and white landmark in the seaside town of Puerto Morelos, halfway between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. It was built on the beach in 1946, replacing a rudimentary light on a metal pole, which had been in place since 1905.

About twenty years after its construction, Hurricane Beulah struck it, washing away the foundations, and causing it to tilt. Efforts to remove it failed and so it remains, a testament, were it needed, to the destructive power of hurricanes.

A lighthouse was essential, to warn vessels of the Great Mayan Reef that stretches more than 700 miles along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, so in 1968, a third lighthouse was built. It also fell foul of a hurricane, Wilma, in 2005, but managed to remain vertical.

Kiipsaare Lighthouse, Estonia

                                            Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

In Estonia, the Kiipsaare Lighthouse stood on the tip of the island of Saaremaa. It was built in 1993, to warn seafarers in the Baltic Sea of the peninsula and to act as a waypoint.

Although it was originally almost a mile inland, erosion has meant that it is now 160 feet offshore and leaning. It is no longer active.

                                        Bremerhaven lighthouse
                                        Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, in Germany, the Bremerhaven lighthouse, at the entrance to Bremen’s port, was listing so dangerously in 2022 that ships were forbidden to enter the Geeste River, for fear the building would collapse. The proposed plan was to demolish it if it didn’t topple by itself. This is quite a confused story and research leads to different accounts and photographs of structures that look completely unlike each other. However, it appears that it was pulled down eventually and part of it used in the construction of a replacement. 

April 21st

On this day . . .
In Italy this date is known as the Birthday of Rome because the Roman Empire was founded by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC.
Henry VII died in 1509 and was succeeded by his son, Henry VIII.
In 1789 John Adam was sworn in as the first US Vice President.
Charlotte Brontё was born in 1816 in Thornton, Yorkshire.
Noah Webster published the first American dictionary in 1828.
Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Mark Twain died in 1910 in Redding, Connecticut.
HM Queen Elizabeth II was born in 1926.
In 1944 French women were enfranchised.
In 1961, at a war crimes trial in Jerusalem, Adolf Eichmann admitted his part in the Holocaust but claimed to be a small cog in the Nazi machine and not directly responsible for the murder of any Jews.
In 1966, Emperor Haile Selassie, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and Elect of God, visited Jamaica. The day is now celebrated at Grounation Day.
John W Young, USN commander of Apollo 16, became the ninth man to walk on the Moon in 1972.
In 1983 one pound coins went into circulation to replace paper pound notes in England and Wales.
Approximately 100,000 students gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989 to commemorate the reform leader Hu Yaobang. He supported economic and political reforms but was forced by hardliners to resign as a leader of the People's Republic of China.