A Bit About Axolotls. – Frog Blog
The little creature with the charming smile shown above is called an axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum). They are native to one specific lake in Mexico; Lake Xochimilco, located next to Mexico City. They’re currently critically endangered, despite being very popular pets, their numbers in the wild are extremely limited.
While these animals may look like aquatic lizards, they are actually amphibians, and look identical to tiger salamander larvae. Axolotls are essentially over-grown tiger salamander babies, that will stay that way for their entire lives.
( Dr. John P. Clare)
That’s not the only interesting thing about them, they were seen by the Aztecs as Gods. These “water monsters” (as their name translates to) have their own legend surrounding them. When the Gods would gather around a fire to sacrifice themselves for yield, the axolotl would escape his sacrifice by disguising himself as a salamander. The God’s name was Xolotl, and when his brother finally became cross with him dodging his duties, and went out to find him; when he finally found him, he was in Lake Xochimilco. His brother spared his life, but sentenced him to eternal darkness as a punishment for continuously dodging his sacrifices.
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In the wild, axolotls live in caves within the lake, or the darkest areas they can find, just like how Xolotl was left to reside in darkness. This is why they evolved such poor eyesight, similar to most other creatures that spend their lives in darkness.
But why are they critically endangered in the wild? The demands for the expansion of Mexico City call for the draining of more and more of the canals that they inhabit, they’re very popular in the aquarium trade, and in Mexico, roasted axolotl is a delicacy. Along with this, large fish (koi, and other carp species) have been introduced into the lake, as well as large birds like heron, that eat their food supply, and even the axolotls themselves, which causes their population to continue rapidly declining.
Axolotls have some of the cutest smiles in the animal kingdom, let’s do our best to keep those happy little faces thriving in their natural habitat, and pay more attention to the amphibian crisis we’re currently facing to keep those smiles on their faces.
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