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 keeps 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 & 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)

Lifespan 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