Ajolote


Is it a worm, a snake, a lizard, or something out of a movie? No special effects here; this is a ajolote, a reptile found in Mexico that has only two legs. It lives underground, where front legs for digging are more valuable than hind legs that would only be dragged along. Link

/me looks at the head and little feet: "Awwwwww"
/me looks down its long long creepy tail: "Ewwwwww"
/me looks back up to the head: "Awwwwww"
/me looks back down to the tail: "Ewwwwww"
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PK - absolutely. and thanks for making me laugh.

Shopkeeper: Take this object, but beware: it carries a terrible curse!
Homer: Oooh, that's bad.
Shopkeeper: But it comes with a free Frogurt!
Homer: That's good!
Shopkeeper: The Frogurt is also cursed.
Homer: That's bad.
Shopkeeper: But you get your choice of toppings!
Homer: That's good!
Shopkeeper: The toppings contain sodium benzoate.
[Homer looks puzzled.] That's bad.!?
Homer: Can I go now?
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What the heck?! It's like a giant worm with hands and a mouth and eyes. :o

And, yes, I also did the "Awwww!" and "Ewwww!" with a few "Kill it fire!!" moments.
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that is not an ajolote.
an ajolote or "axolotl" is the common american salamander but in the valley of central mexico, due to the lack of iodine in the water it retains its gills through adulthood.Salamanders like other amphibians have gills in their larval phase like tadpoles.but loose them when they reach adulthood. another intresting fact about axolotls is that they can regrow full limbs if severed.
cheers from mexico city
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@chago You, sir, are wrong! That up there is an ajolote, but this is an axolotl: http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2004/art/axolotl.jpg

The names are very similar which is why I checked too! Perhaps they ought to do an axolotl article to go along with the ajolote one? I mean c'mon, look how cute that little guy is. And here's the baby: http://splinteredsunrise.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/axolotl.jpg
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Ajolote are an example of an "intermediate" phase between lizards and snakes. Modern snakes are descended from at least one type of lizard, which initially found the loss of first back, then the remaining front, legs to be advantageous when burrowing. Although snakes later subdivided into many more varieties, some of which do not burrow, the legs do not seem to have returned. (There were several legless prehistoric reptiles that superficially resembled snakes, but which are extinct.)

On a less technical note, it sure is cute! So's the unrelated amphibian axolotl (with the nearly identically-pronounced name).
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