Both emblematic of, and endangered in, its native Mexico, the perpetually juvenile amphibian known as the axolotl—el ajolote—once thrived within vast lakes later drained by Spanish settlers and devoured by the sprawling metropolis that became the country’s capital. Known for their impish “grins,” feathery gills, hearty carnivorous diets, and remarkable regenerative powers that kick in when a limb (or two) is lost, Mexico City’s famed mole salamanders take their name from Xolotl, the Aztec god of fire and lightning who escaped death by transforming himself into a lizard-like creature and fleeing into the water.
Today, Mexico City’s imperiled wild axolotl population can be found only within a single surviving habitat: the canals and scattered wetlands comprising the remnants of the ancient lake of Xochimilco. Roughly 40 miles to the southwest of the city, in Toluca, the axolotl—including all 16 endemic-to-Mexico members of the larger family Ambystoma—is celebrated, and its continued plight spotlighted, at a new facility that is part of one of the first public park-rewilding projects in the country.
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