The Axolotl - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

The study of natural science by easy methods is once more demonstrated by this most interesting of films. Its subject, the Axolotl, is a small animal belonging to the batrachia, or frog-fish order, which is one of the lowest reptilian ...See moreThe study of natural science by easy methods is once more demonstrated by this most interesting of films. Its subject, the Axolotl, is a small animal belonging to the batrachia, or frog-fish order, which is one of the lowest reptilian orders. The distinguishing feature of the Axolotl is that it retains its gills through life, these gills enabling it to breath in the water. The Mexican Axolotl, which has reached a more advanced stage of evolution, possesses lungs in adult life, and for the purposes of comparison, we have pictures of both the gill-breathing and lung-breathing Axolotl. The major portion of the film is, however, devoted to the birth of an Axolotl. Reproduction takes place by eggs, and the eggs, at first mere masses of a gelatinous substance, with a tiny embryo in the center of each, appear on the screen in their successive stages of development. The embryo takes a month to develop, but at the end of a fortnight the first movements of life are observable. These movements are involuntary and are perfectly regular. Towards the end of the month the gills appear on the head of the now almost fully-developed tadpole of the Axolotl. There is also a marked change in the movements which at this stage are abrupt and voluntary. The actual birth of the Axolotl is next shown in pictures remarkable for their wonderful vividity. The egg, highly magnified, is show, as well as the sudden upward spring with which the tadpole, eager for life amongst its fellows, leaves the egg. The adult stage of the animal is not reached before the end of the year, and by that time it possesses clumsy webbed feet; pictures of the animal at the period of full growth are shown, and other pictures of different varieties of the Axolotl conclude a film of most pleasurable interest. Written by The Film Index synopsis See less