Axolotl

• It can regenerate limbs, organs and even parts of the brain.
• Its habitat is now reduced to Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City alone.
• Its wild population is estimated at fewer than 1,000.
• regeneraciónIt can regrow whole limbs, parts of the heart and even brain tissue, generally without scarring.
• biologíaUnlike other salamanders it retains larval features such as external gills permanently, even as a sexually mature adult, a phenomenon called neoteny.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (neotenic amphibian, retaining larval traits as an adult)

Habitat and environment

Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City alone (historically also the drained Lake Chalco)

Birth weight

Hatches from the egg after 10-14 days of incubation; microscopic at birth

Size at birth

A tiny larva on hatching from the egg

Sexual maturity

6-12 months

Gestation / incubation

10-14 days of egg development

Litter / clutch size

100 to 1,000 eggs per clutch (average ~300)

Life expectancy in captivity

Up to 10-21 years documented in captivity

Sources consulted: Carpenter Nature Center; AboutAnimals.com; Animal Diversity Web; AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); SeaWorld/Busch Gardens; National Geographic; Britannica Kids; IUCN Red List (En peligro crítico): pérdida estimada de al menos el 80 % de la población en tres generaciones; la densidad cayó de 6.000 ejemplares/km² en 1998 a 100 en 2008 y menos de 35 en 2014 || IUCN Red List, evaluación de Ambystoma mexicanum; Voss et al. 2015 || Recuero et al. 2010, Annales Zoologici Fennici; Ramos et al. 2025, PLOS ONE (seguimiento por telemetría de ejemplares reintroducidos)

Best time: Practically impossible to see in the wild: the monthly surveys in Xochimilco have not detected it since 2017. It is easily seen in aquariums and breeding centres, and captive-bred animals are being reintroduced onto restored chinampas