As our paper's, mascot my first edition on Academy High Animals will be about our beloved axolotls and who better to ask than our resident science teacher Mrs. Capell? Together we will go over what axolotls are, where they're from, and why we keep them as a school pet.
The following was adapted from an interview with Mrs. Capell.
Caden: Can you tell us a bit about axolotls as a species?
Mrs. Capell: Axolotls are amphibians, but they are specific type of amphibian. They are neotenic, which means they stay in their larval form their entire life. Most salamanders look like axolotls when they are larvae but as they go through metamorphosis they absorb their gills and then they can come out on land. Axolotls never go through this stage. Their species name is Axolotl Mexicana and they're native to Mexico, though rarely found in the wild. Now you can find them in labs, classrooms, and pet stores- all of which are captive-bred instead of being caught in the wild. Axolotls are used a ton in research because of their regenerative abilities. This is why many scientists know quite a bit about them. If you chop off a leg, or a tail, or even all of their limbs (I mean they wouldn’t be able to get around well), they can actually grow it all back. They have really impressive regenerative capabilities.
Caden: Can you introduce us to the axolotls that live at Academy High?
Mrs. Capell: We have three axolotls in the classroom: we have Puddles who's the biggest one and the first axolotl we got for the classroom He came from a graduate student at the U of I. Now he's probably around seven or eight years old. The other one is one is Num Num who I got at Sailfin, he’s probably about a little over one. And then Pebbles, our newest one, came from Carlos last year, he picked him up at sailfin. So, Pebbles is probably getting pretty close to 1 as well at this point.
Caden: Why do we keep axolotls as a school pet?
Mrs. Capell: Axolotls are just cool. They always look like they’re smiling, they’re fun, they’ve got their frilly gills, and they come in different colors. Axolotls are common in classrooms because, well, I think they’re great, but they’re really easy to take care of, too. So compared to a lot of classroom pets they’re really easy to maintain, nobody’s going to be allergic to an axolotl all you need to do to take care of them is to just to give them a worm every couple of days to keep them happy and keep your tank clean, so they’re really low maintenance.
I personally love axolotls because I started working with them as an undergrad in the 90s. I even had my own colony to maintain, so I've always really enjoyed them. I'm glad that a lot of students like them, but I think a lot of people just like axolotls because they are just ridiculously cute. It would be fun to hold a fundraiser to get a better tank for them or maybe even have the axolotl as an Academy High mascot. Lost a leg, keeps on going. Like us- we’re resilient. We can get through anything here at Academy High.
On this note I will conclude the first edition of "Academy High Animals."
Thank you to Mrs. Capell for participating in this interview!