Axolotls are known for their feathery gills and their faces that appear to be smiling. Unlike other salamanders, axolotls keep their youthful features as they grow older. Thanks to their “aww” factor, they have become a popular choice as pets.
Axolotls are more than just cute faces, though. When they get hurt, they can regenerate limbs, organs, and even parts of their brains. Scientists around the world are studying axolotls in laboratories to better understand this superpower.
They’re also racing to save axolotls in the wild. Scientists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) are focusing on a district called Xochimilco (soh-chee-MEEL-koh). Located near Mexico City, its canals are the only place where axolotls still live in the wild.
Xochimilco used to be home to one of several lakes where axolotls thrived. But over the past few centuries, the ecosystem has undergone big changes. Lakes were drained to reduce flooding. As Mexico City’s population boomed in the 1900s, the remaining waterways became polluted. Builders drained and paved over much of the wetlands to make way for roads and buildings. And the government stocked the canals with fish, including carp and tilapia, as a food source for the area’s growing population. But the fish feasted on axolotl eggs. These salamanders are now critically endangered. Fewer than 1,000 of them are left in the wild.