Georges Cuvier

Where do Axolotls live and why do they look so strange?

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The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) fell into mythology centuries ago; the Aztecs believed that the first axolotl appeared in the lake system surrounding modern-day Mexico City when the powerful underworld god Xolotl transformed himself into a small, feathered amphibian to escape capture. Among the first modern zoo animals, 34 axolotls were brought from Mexico (along with … Read more

Mummified animals brought back from Egypt by Napoleon’s scientists sparked a pre-Darwinian debate about evolution

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Georges Cuvier (left) and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck fundamentally disagreed about whether or not species can change over time.GeorgiosArt/iStock via Getty Images Plus; Kean Collection/Archive Photos via Getty Images Decades before Darwin, there was a debate about transformism, the idea that species change over time. Two colleagues from the French natural history museum faced each other. They … Read more