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Discussion thread for new ep: Ambystomology (AXOLOTLS ... AND LIMB REGROWTH?) (Patreon)

Published:
2024-07-25 19:20:02
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Up and ready for your ears: an entire episode on painfully adorable aquatic salamanders! Outdoor gills! Habitat restoration! Biomedical research! And Minecraft.

Dr. Jessica Whited rears axolotls and discusses their natural habitat, eating, mating, pet trade, and the research that geneticists are doing to understand limb, organ, and even brain regrowth.

Have you listened yet? What did you think? I wanted to balance the medical with the ecological but honestly these creatures are so beautiful and fascinating it could have been a three-parter. Let’s discuss.

(And yes we’ll put it on the list for a Smologies ep.)

Giving you a tiny slimy high five,

Ol’ Ward

Files

Ambystomology (AXOLOTLS ... AND LIMB REGROWTH?) with Dr. Jessica Whited - alie ward

Feathery gills! Adorable smiles! Cultural icons! Habitat ecology! And superhuman limb regeneration? It's an entire episode on axolotls. You either love these aquatic salamanders, or you've never heard of them. Clap your tiny slimy hands for Ambystomologist Dr. Jessica Whited of Harvard Medical Schoo

Comments

Doxx

Let me go listen now.

Lizzy Martinez

Loving all the facts. I love how you described the mossy brown and green color and that us being mutants was acknowledged! Haha!

VibesandMoods

Are axolotls different to salamanders and do they grow into other forms or is adorable their final form?

Alie Ward

The episode is up and live! And we do discuss that!

Alie Ward

We talk about humans being mutants a lot too waaaay back in the Evolutionary Bio ep from like, 2018!

Margaret Downs

The talk about how pink axolotls can make pigments but they don't localize made my little biochemist heart SO HAPPY.

Leigh A Luscan

My kids and I really loved this episode. Thank you so much! We learned just recently that the correct Nahuatl pronunciation is more like "a-show-lot" and I wonder if you'd heard that, too.

Stefanie Wenninger

And also I can’t get over how they look like little Toothless dragons!!

Lizzy Martinez

Yes!!! Now I know what I'm going to listen to on my drive to SDCC tomorrow haha!

Mary Pettice

I'm a literature nerd and was waiting for the reference to Julio Cortázar's short story. This episode was such a treat--I didn't know about axolotls until I read the story in grad school (an extremely long time ago). Since then I have been obsessed!

Alan Gross

I'm 2/3 of the way through it. Interesting and well balanced.

Jeri Rae Art

As a painter who just made an axolotl painting this year for an art show I absolutely loved this

Cat Baklarz

I guess it's just a very axolotl relevant time?

Cat Baklarz

Okay so I love the responsible pet care calls to action bc I work at a saltwater aquarium and someone dumped a bucket of these little babies (in a state where they are not legal to own.) DO YOU KNOW HOW DIFFICULT it is to relocate ~25 axolotls in an area where we can't just re-home them within the community!!

Cat Baklarz

Also don't dump animals at aquariums and zoos, please and thank you! I think the best group to contact would be fish and wildlife 🩵

Cat Baklarz

We did eventually re-home most of them with out-of-state nonprofits

Audrey Hudak

These creatures are charming and surprising. I think it is wild that their natural habitat is man made canals. Weird evolution you AXOLOTLS!!!! 🧬

Alexolotl

Thank you for another fantastic opportunity to learn more. ♥️

Gene Phillips

Axolotyls are great and your guest was great, but I heart belongs to Giant Salamanders, especially the Japanese Giant Salamander. We still have a Japanese children's picture book showing the life story of one that we used to read to our daughter when she was little. i would love an episode on GS's including the American Hellbender.

Kate Bates

My fire belly newt is 29+ years old. Who knew?

Lee Wang

Since cells all over their bodies start dividing when they lose a limb, do they have problems with cancer? And how energetically taxing is it for them to regrow body parts?

Eating Spaghetti in Bed

This was so awesome, and “the rivers and lakes that they’re used to” holy Toledo I freaking died. You are my favorite friend that I’ve never met. 😂❤️

Carrie Driehaus

Just listened! In Feb this year, I went to central Mexico to see the overwintering monarchs. Our awesome guide pulled over on the side of the road and said he had a big surprise. It was a field, with a water bog. AND! Axolotls! I can send you pics of the field and the axolotlys if there’s a good place.

Katy

Look, I was not anticipating a reference to Godzilla Minus One in this episode, but I need to make another plug for it. It's just a genuinely fantastic film, and not what I expect from a monster movie.

Kayla Meyer

this has made me love axolotls more

Annabelle

Do they ax a little or do they axolotl?

Red Kite

Unrelated — look into crocodile skinks for a similar vibe in a tiny animal.

Red Kite

Yes! Hellbenders are so amazing and need more protections.