Axolotls are adorable, fascinating salamanders with an almost supernatural capacity to regrow bodily parts.
However, pollution and urbanization are grave threats to the survival of this species.
These creatures are frequently investigated because of their remarkable ability to regenerate their limbs up to 5 times, with full regeneration requiring only a few weeks.
Cancer researchers are especially interested in these creatures because of their unusual resistance to the development of malignant tissues.
Axolotl
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
In the 13th century, when the Aztecs established the Valley of Mexico around what is now Mexico City, they discovered a giant salamander dwelling in the lake around the island where they erected their city, Tenochtitlán, as per LiveScience.
They named the salamander "axolotl" after their deity of fire and lightning, Xolotl.
According to Aztec legend, Xolotl turned into a salamander, among other forms, to avoid being sacrificed so that the sun and moon may travel in the sky until he was finally arrested and murdered.
Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) are amphibians from the Ambystomatidae family with a single extant genus.
According to AmphibiaWeb at the University of California, Berkeley, there are more than 30 salamander species of the Ambystoma genus, also known as mole salamanders.
Axolotls may grow to be nine inches (20 centimeters) long on average, although some have grown to be more than 12 inches (30 cm) long.
Salamanders in captivity live an average of five to six years, but some have survived up to 17 years.
Wild axolotls can only be found in the marshy remnants of Lake Xochimilco and the canals that connect to it on Mexico City's southern outskirts.
Axolotls were also formerly found at Lake Chalco, one of Mexico City's five "big lakes" where the ancient Aztecs resided.
Except for Xochimilco, all of those lakes were drained by the 1970s to minimize floods and allow for urban growth.
Because of their carnivorous diet, axolotls have historically been at the top of the food chain. They devour whatever they can get their hands on, including mollusks, fish, and arthropods such as insects and spiders.
They even consume one another.
However, in the 1970s and 1980s, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization introduced tilapia and carp fish to the salamanders' habitat in order to offer more protein to the local population.
Axolotls are frequently investigated because of their remarkable ability to regenerate their limbs up to five times, with full regeneration requiring only a few weeks, as per Earth Day.
Cancer researchers are especially interested in these creatures because of their unusual resistance to the development of malignant tissues.
Droughts will continue to reduce adequate natural habitats for these species as a result of climate change.
In fact, droughts have already destroyed one of its natural habitats, Lake Texaco, which is now in the midst of Mexico City, with skyscrapers covering the original location.
Lake Xochimilco is one of the few acceptable habitats for the Axolotl, but its future is uncertain due to climate change.
Axolotls' Conservation status
According to a 2019 assessment by the International Union for the Conservation of Species, there are only between 50 and 1,000 axolotls surviving in the wild, and their numbers are declining.
Tourism and residential development, as well as agricultural and industrial pollutants, have significantly diminished the species' population.
The introduction of tilapia and other exotic species, which consume newborn salamanders and compete for food with adults, has also had an impact.
The Mexican government, as well as other non-profit organizations, are working to rescue axolotls, in part by recovering areas of their freshwater ecosystem and providing eco-tourism opportunities for visitors to observe the unusual salamanders in the wild.
