All it takes is a simple Google search and the axolotl, this one-of-a-kind amphibian creature also known as the Mexican salamander, pops up everywhere. From Girl Scouts’ patches in the United States, to plush toys, stationery, crochet dolls and handcrafted art and jewelry on Etsy, the axolotl has become a global star. Yet, this aquatic salamander has a much deeper and sadder story: its presence has been growing in pop culture just as the wild population of this remarkable species living only in one Mexican lake, hovers on the brink of extinction.
What is the mysterious axolotl
The axolotl is named after the Aztec god Xolotl, who was said to transform into a salamander. The word axolotl is from Nahuatl, the indigenous Mexican language spoken by the Aztecs and an estimated 1.5 million people today.
Axolotls, with their plume-like gills, belong to a class of animals called amphibians, just like frogs. Most amphibians, when they reach adulthood, are able to move onto land. They can breathe by absorbing oxygen through their moist skin and therefore they tend to stay near water.
However, axolotls spend their entire lives in the water because they never complete this metamorphosis into an adult-version of themselves. They spend their entire lives in their watery home—the only placethey are found in the wild: Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City.
Staying “young” throughout their lives is something that has baffled scientists for decades. One hypothesis, according to Dr. Luis Zambrano, a professor of zoology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who spoke to CNN, is that the environment in the lake provides enough resources for the aquatic salamanders so that “it was by far better for them not to expend energy transforming and stay in the lake.”
Once-thriving, now on the verge of extinction
More than 1,000 years ago Xochimilca people around the lake built an agricultural system of man-made floating islands called chinampas, which are still used today by some farmers called chinamperos. These man-made islands provided habitats and hiding places for the axolotls, which thrived among the chinampas for 1,000 years.
Zambrano told CNN that as Mexico City grew and became more industrialized, pumps and pipes were brought into the lake to fulfill the need for water, until the lake became “like a bad, smelly pond with rotten water.” “All of our aquatic animals suffer with bad water quality, but amphibians suffer more because they have to breathe with the skin,” Zambrano added.
To add to the axolotls’ problems, invasive fish species that feed on the axolotl eggs were introduced to the lake. Furthermore, a 1985 earthquake in Mexico City displaced thousands of citizens who set up new homes around the lake, further contributing to the destruction of the axolotl’s natural habitat.
James Monaghan, a biology professor at Northeastern University who has long studied axolotls, tells earth.com that once locals could easily scoop them from the lake’s waters. “Maybe up to the 1950’s, you could put a net to Lake Xochimilco, the canal system and pull up adult axolotls. And then every decade since, it’s just crashed. To the point now they’re critically endangered, and it takes weeks to even find one,” Monaghan says.
Today, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are fewer than 100 axolotls left in the wild (though some other estimates put the number higher) while about one million are kept in captivity, bred for scientific laboratories and the pet trade.
The scientific significance of this unique aquatic salamander
In 1864 a French army officer brought live axolotls from Lake Xochimilco back to Europe. Their initial appeal stemmed from their unusual, fully aquatic life cycle yet in the decades that followed they became critical for studies on genetics, development and regeneration. Axolotls are known for their ability to regrow injured body parts but their regenerative powers extend beyond limbs. Monaghan’s lab has found that they can regenerate a large portion of their lung.
“They are notoriously resistant to cancer, never get infections after an injury,” Monaghan tells earth.com, and can live for up to two decades—qualities that have made them valuable subjects of study for generations.
“Axolotls are the longest lab standing animal of any animal, longer than flies, longer than worms, longer than mice,” he says.
All lab and pet axolotls today descend from that original 19th century population, and this lineage includes the distinct, white axolotl familiar to fans worldwide. Most wild axolotls are a dark, grayish brown. The famous pink version as well as other colored axolotls are genetic mutations rare in the wild but selectively bred for the pet trade.
Axolotls as a cultural icon
The axolotl rose to prominence after Minecraft, a hugely popular video game, introduced this exotic creature as a new element of the game in July 2021.
Since then, it has shot to stardom and this year axolotl toys are considered by many the biggest trend in the United States. They appear topping dozens of children’s gift lists, and these smiling salamanders live on notebooks, backpacks, stickers and t-shirts, for which kids go bananas.
Moreover, axolotls have become a multi-million dollar pet business, with hundreds of websites selling a variety of axolotl species, along with supplies and food for its care. At the same time, many experts have been warning parents to not buy their children the aquatic salamander as a pet, citing concerns that their needs are almost impossible to meet in captivity.
Axolotls have also appeared in Europe’s pop culture. Though do not have the same cultural significance as in the United States, they can be found in some toy stores even in Greece.
The battle for the axolotl’s survival in the wild
One may assume that since the axolotl has been thriving in captivity, this smiling amphibian could simply be returned to Lake Xochimilco. Professor Monaghan says “It’s probably not the best strategy to take a species that’s been inbred since 1864 and reintroduce it to its natural habitat.”
“We can’t take the current axolotl and put it in the environment in Mexico City and expect them to thrive the same way as the original collection in 1864. The environment’s changed, but the animals themselves have changed,” Monaghan adds to earth.com.
Rising awareness may be the best way to save wild axolotls. The team behind Minecraft, the video game that shot the axolotl to cultural prominence, has embraced conservation as part of its mission.
Moreover, the National Autonomous University of Mexico relaunched a campaign last year, asking people to virtually adopt an axolotl, which allows donors to name their salamander and receive a certificate of adoption. There are also options to help pay for an axolotl’s meal or its habitat. The money collected from the fundraiser will go toward conservation efforts to help the axolotl population thrive in the wild.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has launched a similar, symbolic adoption campaign to save axolotls.
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