(Warning: This song gets annoying fast!)
The animal singing this song is actually some species of tiger salamander from north of the Rio Grande. An axolotl is a species of tiger salamander from the lakes that once made up Mexico City. It is a neotenous species that reaches full maturity while still having gills, which salamanders generally only have when they are larvae. Northern species of tiger salamander can be neotenous, but generally, this is a trait of the axolotl.
Salamander species that retain their gills into adulthood are called perennibranchiate salamanders. The name means “always having branches,” which makes sense if you have ever seen an axolotl’s gills.
Now, it is possible to get an axolotl to metamorphose. However, I don’t know why anyone would want to do it.
It takes a certain amount of know-how in chemistry to get the iodine levels just right to make the axolotl metamorphose. It has to be high enough to get them to metamorphose and low enough to keep from killing the axolotl. And if the axolotl has reached sexual maturity with its gills, the chances are that it won’t live very long as a metamorphosed adult.
Here’s a really good page on the metamorphosed axolotl and includes comparisons between those animals and tiger salamanders. Many bait shops carry larval tiger salamanders, usually under the (incorrect) name of “water dog.”
(A water dog or mudpuppy is another perennibranchiate salamander. It is not the same thing as the neotenic tiger salamander or the axolotl. Please do not claim that you caught an axolotl in Ohio or New York.)
If I had an axolotl, I would keep him in the neotenic state, simply because that is the life it evolved to live. It is the life neotenic and the life aquatic.
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Finally, I should note that wild axolotls are quite endangered. The introduction of tilapia and carp to the lakes in which they are native has been very bad for the species. The fish eat the axololts’ gills and their larvae. It doesn’t help that these salamanders are found only in the lake system that is part of the largest city on the continent.
Wow, a metamorphosed axolotl. I hadn’t heard of that before.
I’ve also noticed that giant pacific salamanders are also called either mudpuppies or water dogs. I think its a pretty widespread term for “salamander type creature”.
Aren’t those the salamanders that bark?
Yes! I’ve witnessed it. Every now and then we’d catch the larval form in the creek near my parents house when I was a kid. The only time I ever saw one on land was when one (that still had some vestigial gills sticking out of its head) was eating some of my dogs food.
They’re fun animals, too. They can switch back and forth between the larval and adult phases throughout their life. They’re also one of the few creatures that will eat banana slugs. A wildlife biologist once told me that the venom in the slugs’ slime (which makes human skin numb) sometimes puts the salamander to sleep in the middle of its meal. She said you’ll sometimes find giant salamanders passed out on the forest floor with half a slug sticking out of its mouth. Eventually, they wake up and finish.
WELL I PERSONALLY GOT A CHANCE TO SEE ONE OF THESE GUY’S EVOLVE.MY SON BROUGHT ONE BACK FROM THE LAKE HE GOES TO WITH HIS GRANDFATHER,AND OF COURSE HE WANTS TO KEEP IT THAT BOY LOVES SANAKES,LIZARDS,BUGS YOU NAME IT.WELL ANY HOW HE BRINGS IT BACK HOME AND ASK’S IF HE CAN KEEP IT.AND ME ALWAYS FALLING FOR THAT LITTLE PUPPY FACE HE ALWAYS GIVES ME I JUST CANT SAY NO.AND THE THING LOOKED PRETTY COOL.I THOUGHT IT WAS GOIN TO DIE AT FIRST I GOT IT SOME SMALL FEEDER FISH FROM THE STORE AND IT ACUALLY ATE THEM SO I THOUGHT WOW HE MIGHT ACTUALLY MAKE IT.SO MONTHS GO BY IM TAKING VERY GOOD CARE OF IT MAKING SURE IT’S STAYING FED AND HAS A CLEAN TANK TO LIVE IN AND ONE MORNING I CHECK ON HIM AND AND HE’S LOOKING A LITTLE THINER HIS EXTERNAL GILLS ARE SHRIBLING UP SO IM LIKE OH NO HE’S GONNA DIE.BUT LITTLE DID KNOW HE WAS WAS CHANGING INTO A SALAMANDER FROM A WATERDOG.SO NOW HE’S LOOKING JUST LIKE THAT SALAMANDER IN THAT PIC UP THERE(TIGER SALAMANDER)NOW IM JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WEATHER I SHOULD STILL KEEP HIM IN WATER OR SET UP HIS TANK DIFFERENT OR JUST LET HIM GO?SOMEBODY PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR INSIGHT.
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/salamanders/a/tigersalamander.htm
hi