Exotic, dinosaur-like and famous in the virtual world — this is the axolotl. The animal, which is successful in the game ‘Minecraft’, is the new resident of the São Paulo Zoo.
In the game, one of the most popular in the world, these animals are like marine soldiers. But the Ambystoma mexicanum, its scientific name, is more good-natured. An amphibian native to Mexico — and therefore distant from dinosaurs, which were reptiles — they are part of the salamander family and have external legs and gills, which look more like antennae on the side of their head.
At the zoo, they stay inside an aquarium in the section called O Pulo do Sapo, in which two female axolotls live — one black, the natural color of the animal, and the other white, lacking melanin.
Returning to ‘Minecraft’, there axolotls are creatures capable of generating regeneration and removing fatigue. In real life, they also regenerate easily. That is, even if they lose a part of the body, such as the tail, that part grows back — depending on the degree of the injury, this happens in hours.
Cybele Lisboa, the zoo’s reptile and amphibian management manager, comments that this is one of the reasons the creature appears so often in scientific studies that analyze cellular restructuring in humans.
Another important aspect mentioned by the biologist is the disappearance of the animal in the Mexican fauna. The two individuals who are in the institution, for example, were rescued in operations against animal trafficking. The seized axolotls went to the São Paulo Aquarium, which, in turn, donated the two amphibians to the zoo.
“This species, nowadays, is found in only one lake near Mexico City, which is very compromised in terms of environmental quality. The other lake in which the creature was found disappeared completely due to the urbanization process. For this reason, it is considered critically endangered”, says Lisboa.
Finally, one more curiosity: the species maintains the characteristics of a larva, with the external gills, even during the adult phase. This adds to the exotic aspect even more, making it stand in the way of those textbook illustrations on evolution — it’s an aquatic tadpole, but with paws and that seems to want to walk on land.
The curious, amphibian fans or ‘Minecraft’ players who wish to visit the zoo’s axolotls will have to pay R$ 59.90 – but children up to four years old do not pay.
