Category: Amphibians
These completely aquatic salamanders are also known as the Mexican salamander or Mexican walking fish. They are a neotenic salamander, meaning they never lose their gills and live an entirely aquatic existence; they reach sexual maturity without every going through metamorphosis. The axolotl is a voracious carnivore, eating any small fish, worms, and insects that blunder close enough to their vacuum of a mouth. This voraciousness extends to each other, as well -- an axolotl small enough to fit into the mouth of a tank-mate may find itself eaten! And even if they are the same size, they may still bite one another if not well fed.
Learn more about Axolotls at Reptiles Magazine.
Only a Mother’s Love…
We are taught that toads leave their fertilized eggs in the water in long strings, which hatch into tadpoles, who live in the water until they grow legs and lungs and become toads. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, there always has to be an exception to the rule: the male Suriname toad implants eggs into the female’s back, which sink into her skin and forms pockets where the eggs eventually hatch into tadpoles. These tadpoles live on their mother’s back until transforming into toads, at which point they burrow out of her skin in a fascinating or horrifying (or both) display, depending on your perspective.
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Discover Animals is a web-based educational resource offered by the NAIA
