Axolotls are one of the largest amphibians in the world. Almost dead in the wild. A frilled salamander reaches the swimming pool. A veterinarian holds a salamander named an axolotl in an aquarium at the Ecological Restoration Institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City in April 2021. Scientists estimate that there are around 1 million axolotls in captivity, but they have almost disappeared in nature. You can buy an adorable
axolotl from online reliable site by simply searching axolotl for sale. The small salamander, known as the axolotl, has a face appearance, is one of the most popular in the world.
You can buy them as pets online/ The axolotl, usually red with feathery gills, is also popular in the lab. Scientists love studying it because it can regenerate limbs, spinal cord and brain. According to some experts, around one million people worldwide are under human care.
However, in their native Mexico, celebrated as a cultural symbol, the axolotl is badly affected and threatened with extinction. The only place found in the wild is Mexico City Water Town, the second largest city in the Western Hemisphere. fell from 6,000 in 1990 to less than 30 per square kilometer.
This paradox, where axolotls occur everywhere and at the same time nowhere, raises the question of dissatisfaction. If an animal grows up in experimental areas and aquariums, would you be concerned that it would die in its local waters? Or ask in another way. How important is “wildlife” in wildlife? Luis Zambrano, director of axolotl research at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), said last year that most research on the axolotl fauna was currently incomplete. They are very small. But in November, I left for Xochimilco (say so-chee-MEEL-ko) south of Mexico City. I wanted to study the instructions of the axolotls to their location and I had a feeling that I would be lucky.
Some animals live deep in the forest, far from prosperity. Not axolotls. Salamanders live in narrow channels that surround farmland, called chinampas or “floating gardens”, watering crops and transporting them. With its narrow streets and wooden boats carrying people, Xochimilco looks like Venice, but with the scent of fresh tamales and the crowing of roosters.
Native Mexicans were the creators of chinampas hundreds of years ago when Europeans ruled what they called the Aztec Empire. While the city was located in five large lakes, axolotls thrived in the canals, which the Spaniards used for food and healing. They also worshiped the salamander as a representation of the god Xolotl, twin spirit and chief of Quetzalcoatl, one of the most important deities. (According to legend, Xolotl transformed into other plants and animals to avoid sacrifice, and his final form before he was discovered and killed was the axolotl.)
Spanish invasions and centuries of colonial rule have eroded traditional agriculture and altered the city’s unique ecosystems. As Mexico City grew, the lakes began to dry up, sewage sludge and pesticides polluted the water, and two species of fish grew in the canals. Today, farmers often use fertilizers and pesticides, and most of Xochimilco’s water cannot support a wide range of crops.
Live animals must compete with fish that have eaten axolotls. One afternoon, while walking through the narrow streets of Sochimilco, I asked the locals where they could find salamanders. Finally I got a tip. It can be seen near the confluence of two major waterways to the north. I crossed a few dark, smelly streams before the instructor took me to the chamber. It has many tanks of little owls, turtles and unique salamanders.
For wild axolotls, too. With so many tourists coming, I think about the difference between ecology and people thinking about nature. Here we are in the country of the axolotls, looking at them blankly as they are so different. It’s easy to forget that these animals are wild and part of a larger community when they’re now behind glass. It’s easy to forget that the world’s smallest species share the same life web as humans.
I had better luck when I visited a field owned by Felipe Barrera Aguirre, a farmer and veterinarian with thick, black, knotted hair. He said he was improving the axolotl population in the canals in his area. On a cold morning, with photographer Luis Antonio Rojas, I took a wooden boat trip to the Barrera Aguirre field.
Thirty minutes later we arrived at a small but wonderful place. He led us through a web of tall sunflowers, bright red cherry tomatoes and dew-covered spider webs down a small path lined with aquatic plants. Shut up and watch, Barrera Aguirre told me.
Axolotls are unusual even compared to their amphibian relatives. Although many salamanders transform into terrestrial animals when they reach adulthood (drop their bodies better into the ground instead of dropping their gills, fins, and other streams), axolotls generally do not. They often spend their entire lives in water as if they are not growing up. Luckily for earth fans, it still mostly floats in the air.
Waiting for a rare beast to appear is a test of patience. But in the darkness, I saw everything around me, from iridescent beetles scrubbing the grass to shrimp-like creatures swimming in the water. I think that’s what biodiversity looks like. Thousands of plants, animals and microbes each transport themselves in difficult networks.
