Axolotls are popular pets—but in the wild, these adorable amphibians are on the brink of extinction. That’s because they’ve lost most of their wetland habitat in central Mexico. One way to help the population is to raise axolotls in captivity and release them into areas where suitable habitats have been artificially created or restored.
Axolotls Go Wild?
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ANIMAL IN PERIL: Today roughly 1 million axolotls can be found in aquariums in homes and laboratories. Fewer than 1,000 live in the wild.
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COLOR CHANGE: In the wild, axolotls are brown or black. Pink and white axolotls are found only in captivity.
Recently, scientists tested this idea by releasing 18 captive-bred axolotls at two locations: an ecological reserve and a protected refuge in Xochimilco (soh-chee-MEEL-koh), a neighborhood in Mexico City. They monitored the axolotls for five weeks. “They all survived,” says Alejandra Ramos, a scientist at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In both environments, the animals hunted, traveled long distances, and even laid eggs! This study offers hope that axolotls could someday thrive again in the wild.
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