alt Hacker NewsSooo, if they are/were popular as pets, how come there's less than 1000 left worldwide? Those two facts don't reconcile for me.
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bombcar • yesterday at 7:35 PM
"in the wild" might be doing a lot of heavy lifting, or it may be based on subspecies or similar.
I don't really expect to find endangered species at the local pet store.
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liveoneggs • yesterday at 7:54 PM
the pet ones are almostly entirely captive bred so they are pretty distinct by now
1000 wild ones. There's much more in captivity than in the wild.
They evolved to be quite dependent on the unique agricultural islands in the Valley of Mexico called Chinampas. These were drained by the colonizers. Which is why Mexico City is now facing a severe water crisis and also why these creatures are endangered