They are one of only two species of oviparous monotreme in the world, they secrete poison from spurs in their ankles, they locate their prey in the water through a system of electrolocation, they close their eyes, ears and nostrils when they swim, they have ten sex chromosomes compared with two in most mammals, they are so awkward and ornery that having bred once in captivity in 1943 they refused to do so again until 1998 – and you can watch one live, here!
4 comments:
Fook, that looks like mah Pauline int' mornin!
Ant restuh time cumta think abou' it!
They doubtless speak Luganda, to enable their ten chromosomes to scintillate through its ten grammatical genders.
By the way, have you heard of Walter Garstang, a marine zoologist and poet? He is one of the few poets (yourself included) who have shown an interest in Axolotls.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Garstang#Larval_Forms_and_Other_Zoological_Verses
Off Top: Dear David, I know your interest in birds (and poetry) and want to share some info about Ukrainian poet Vasyl Holoborodko who has a poetry project "Ukrainian Birds in Ukrainian Landscape": he writes about our 365 birds for more than 10 years now. His collected poems in two volumes are here: http://issuu.com/bruha/docs/goloborodko-virshi-1 & http://issuu.com/bruha/docs/goloborodko-virshi-2. :-)
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