Curly

Hello everyone!

After a seemingly endless summer break, we are finally settling into fall semester here at the Gatton Academy. Amidst the ceaseless calculus homework and studying chemical nomenclature over the past few weeks, I have also been getting to know the Class of 2020. I am really looking forward to my Senior year at the Gatton Academy.
It has been a few weeks since the last closed weekend and, like most Gatton students, I have pets at home that I miss dearly when I am at school. While students are able to visit Beth’s dog, Daisy, we often still miss having pets of our own. Thanks to Dr. Jerrett Johnson from WKU’s Biology Department, we now have another community pet to ease some of this pet-sickness. One of the first things that students now see when they enter the lobby is an aquarium, home to Gatton’s new pet, Curly. Curly is an axolotl, a type of salamander native to Mexico.

After reading the informational paper about axolotls that sits next to Curly’s tank, I decided to further research our newest family addition. Axolotls are incredibly interesting creatures! These animals are prone to bowel obstructions due to them eating objects such as pebbles, thus Curly is on a strict diet. Another interesting fact is that axolotls, like most salamanders, are able to regenerate lost limbs. Axolotls also experience neoteny. While most salamanders go through metamorphosis and are able to live on land as adults, axolotls spend their entire lives underwater. External gills are a unique characteristic of salamanders as well. Personally, I think they make Curly look like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.

My classmates and I love Curly and we are thankful to the staff for giving us a new friend. Discovering about the world around us is always enriching, and Curly has given us an opportunity to learn about a creature we may have never known about otherwise.

 

Georgia