Girl, 10, finds rare Mexican axolotl under Welsh bridge

I don’t know how they know it’s an axolotl and not a newt larva. If it’s the latter it’ll be very jarring when it changes forms later

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.

Amazing to see all of the things kids have been finding these days!

Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75848

‘It Had Teeth’: A 3-Year-Old Discovers Ancient Treasure in Israel While on a hike with her family, a child stumbled across a 3,800-year-old Egyptian amulet. It will go on display in an upcoming exhibition. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/world/middleeast/child-an...

Sarah Huckabee Sanders' kids scream with excitement after finding 2,000-year-old coins in West Bank cave https://www.foxnews.com/travel/sarah-huckabee-sanders-kids-s...

> "This is a quite a unique situation, and I think the young female has a keen eye to actually spot it," [Chris Newman, director of the National Centre for Reptile Welfare, said]

What an odd thing to say.

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.

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

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

> 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?

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.

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

The BBC paywall for US users is really a bummer

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

well good thing she was 10

Imagine if it were the other way around:

Mexican axolotl, 10, finds rare Girl under Welsh bridge.

Imagine axolotl husband now cries of missing wife.

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

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

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.