Girl, 10, finds rare Mexican axolotl under Welsh bridge

Girl, 10, finds rare Mexican axolotl under Welsh bridge

A nature-loving 10-year-old girl who found an endangered amphibian under a bridge has left her mum in "shock, surprise and disbelief".

Melanie Hill said her daughter, Evie, discovered the nine-inch Mexican axolotl as they spent the day near the River Ogmore in Bridgend. She said Evie was "always finding things" like newts and bugs, but said the axolotl discovery was a surprise.

Axolotls as pets have seen a surge in popularity in recent years after they were introduced to video games such as Minecraft and Roblox. Evie spotted the axolotl nestled in the rocks after lifting up a discarded mat in the shallows of the River Ogmore.

She was playing in the water under the "Dipping Bridge" at the entrance to Merthyr Mawr village when she noticed the creature had damage to its tail and stomach. "I went down to the bank and there was this axolotl there," said Evie. "I caught it and brought it back."

Chris Newman, director of the National Centre for Reptile Welfare, said Evie probably saved Dippy's life. The family decided to cut their holiday short to take the axolotl back to their home in Leicester, naming it Dippy as a tribute to where Evie found it.

What is an axolotl?

Salamanders are amphibians that, like frogs and newts, start of living in water. Typically, this type of creature will adapt as it ages, replacing water-breathing gills for air-breathing lungs that enable them to live on land. But axolotls never make this transition, retaining their frilly external gills and living in the water for their entire lifecycle.

Like many species of salamander, they have the remarkable ability to regenerate parts of their bodies, including limbs, eyes and even parts of their brains.

'Challenging' to look after

There has been a surge in keeping axolotls as pets in recent years due to games like Minecraft and Roblox, which feature them. Chris Newman said the manner in which Dippy was found suggested its owner had released it due to a "change in circumstances".

"First of all, it's illegal to release a non-native species into the wild - and it's not good from a welfare point of view either," he added. Experts have warned axolotls should never be bought on impulse as they can be "very challenging" to look after because they have the same environmental, dietary and behavioural needs in captivity as they do in the wild.