In extremely rare cases it might happen that the embryonic development does not happens as it is supposed to do. A so-called "chimaera" is such a case where two or more embryoes "fuse" into one living animal.
This case becomes eye-striking when these two (or more) embyoes are of different color types and these types get combined in one Axolotl.
In the case depicted here, the embryoes were of the types "Leucistic (white)" und "wild (brown/black)".
On this page you will find a description of the keeper with some pictures.
The animal depicted here is the offspring of two wildtype Axolotl, one of them slightly paler than the second one.
They hatched in April 2008. The chimaera was bigger than its siblings right from the start.
Unfortunately it happened that the chimaera one day ate one of its smaller siblings. It was kept in a special tank for several weeks from this time on.
Meanwhile the animal is still big, but one leucistic sibling has an almost similar size. The other siblings are still way smaller than these two (about 5 cm). The chimaera always had a very big had compared to the rest of its body but this somehow related in the meantime.
Chimäre - wild-colored side
Axolotl Chimäre - leucistic / white side
© Fotos S. Bitzer, Ambystoma.de 2008
