Girl, 10, finds rare Mexican axolotl under Welsh bridge

codezero

It amazes me she chanced upon it at the right time and even knew exactly what it was.

mikestew

Sooo, if they are/were popular as pets, how come there's less than 1000 left worldwide? Those two facts don't reconcile for me.

nom

This is so unlikely to happen. There is a good chance that they are not as rare as we currently think, at least in that particular area.

janalsncm

Indeed, most axolotls in Wales are Welsh axolotls. But I do wonder how many do live in Wales. If it’s not just an abandoned pet that would be really interesting.

poolnoodle

Why not leave it in the wild? Now the poor thing has to stare at the inside of a bucket for the rest of its life.

fortran77

Why did she name him Dippy and not a proper Welsh name like "Cadwaladr" or "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?"

beeforpork

And dont you pronounce that 'x' as 'ks'! It's pronounced as 'sh'! Just like in 'xocolatl'.

standwportugul

The BBC paywall for US users is really a bummer

shevy-java

Imagine if it were the other way around: Mexican axolotl, 10, finds rare Girl under Welsh bridge.

pinkmuffinere

> I've been telling Evie all this time that those creatures she watches on YouTube, they're not real. This is a really strange side comment, lol. I guess the mom doesn’t believe in some animals?

varispeed

Imagine axolotl husband now cries of missing wife.

nilslindemann

Even if you are an endangered species, humans wont leave you alone.

motbus3

These damn mexican immigrants are everywhere! Just kidding. I love you mexican folks, just couldn't miss the joke

analog8374

well good thing she was 10

beeandapenguin

Fun fact: Axolotl have the largest animal genome ever sequenced with ~32b base pairs, 10x more than humans.