A Mona Lisa Smile … Say Cheese
Rappahannock County is host to myriad domestic and wild creatures, from bear and bobcat to cougar (no hard evidence, but reports of sightings are many) to all manner of livestock and domesticated pets.
Rappahannock is also home to Cheese, a critically endangered species of salamander, an Axolotl, found in the wild only in Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City, where pollution and development is weaning out their numbers.
They are, however, flourishing in captivity throughout the world, and yes, right here in Harris Hollow.
Some may be familiar with the webbed-legged creature, as the video game Minecraft uses cartoonish characters resembling Axolotl. Characters from Pokėmon, Mudkip, Chansey and Wooper are also modeled after this magical being.
Fiona Loth of Harris Hollow, 12 years old and an avid animal video fan, saw the Axolotl, and fascinated by the amphibian, she decided she’d like one for a pet. So, Fiona saved up money for many months.
Missy McCool, Fiona’s mom, said: “They are trendy, but cycling the tank for them is tricky and quality water is linchpin. Water temperature is critical and we are fortunate here in Rappahannock to have unchlorinated water. Our friends Veronika and Jeffrey Benson kindly gifted us a 29-gallon fish tank, which is perfect for Cheese’s needs.”
Fiona said that Cheese was so named after her brother Henry’s friend whose nickname is Cheese. “We still don’t know if he’s a boy or a girl. They mature at the age of one year and he/she isn’t that old yet.”
“Cheese eats every day, pellets and fresh worms from our property. Cheese tells us she’s hungry when she goes into a favorite corner.”
Fiona continues to share the importance of water quality. “If anyone is interested in having an Axolotl, they need to be aware that it’s a lot of work and for kids it’s important to know that your parents will be helping a lot.”
Missy shares that “Cheese, we know, is very healthy because his/her gills are super fluffy and that’s a sign of good health and clean water.”
“I picked him out,” shared Fiona looking up with a bright smile.
To say this being is adorable is an understatement, with its Mona Lisa smile, feathered gills resembling a mane, sprouting from their heads, all give a Medusa like appearance along with webbed feet, and a dorsal fin that runs down the length of their body replete with a tail.
It is also known as a mexican walking fish, water monster, water dragon and water dog. In pre-Columbian times, it’s also considered to be a sacred salamander. In ancient Aztec, “Nahuati Ataloti” is roughly translated to mean “water monster.”
As legend has it, Xolotl was an Aztec god, a dog headed deity and when the deities were being sacrificed by the great sun god, Xolotl transformed himself into an Axolotl and hid himself in the lakes of Mexico.
While primarily brownish in color in the wild, in captivity when mutated, the colors range from white with pink gills to tangerine orange and a spectrum of colors in between including color variants of gold and albino gray.
The life span is 10 to 15 years and they grow up to 6-18 inches. Unlike other salamanders that undergo metamorphosis, axolotls (pronounced Ack-suh-lah-tuhl) never outgrow their larval, juvenile stage, a phenomenon called neoteny.
Though they keep their gills, adult axolotls also have functional lungs and can breathe through their skin. And if being forever — babies didn’t make them cute enough, their mouths are upturned in a permanent Mona Lisa smile.
These amphibians are studied in the scientific community with great interest because of their regenerative qualities, meaning a lost limb will regenerate, eyes and indeed parts of the brain.