In search of the last wild axrs

Axolotles are critical endangered. According to IUCN Red List of endangered speciesThese water monsters – a national symbol that poses for the 50 accounts of Mexico and which were once considered disappearance In nature. “

The numbers say it best. In 1998, in their natural habitat, there were 6,000 axolos per square kilometer, the area of Xochimilco in the southern part of Mexico City. By 2004, this figure had fallen to only 1000, and by 2008 it was only 100. Now, a new study is being conducted. Xochimilco is home to the remnants of a huge network of the Aztecs and is subject to UNESCO World Heritage Site, although the area is facing an environmental deterioration as a result of an increase in urbanization.

It all shows that for Axolotl the countdown until the disappearance continues. But there is one last hope. Scientists at the Environmental Restoration Laboratory at the National Autonomous University in Mexico (UNAM), who are responsible for the Axolotl Census, seek to turn this trend and preserve one of the most grounded vertebrates on the planet.

“The purpose of the census is to know the current status of the Axolotl population,” says Luis Zamberno, project leader and founder of the Environmental Restoration Laboratory. Public observations are important, he says, but in order to be sure of their existence in nature, there must be evidence. Armed with confirmation that the axolots are still present in Xochimilco and assessing how many, then researchers plan to conduct campaigns to combat the misinformation for the species and to guide the conservation, as well as to strengthen the wild population by releasing raised individuals. The final results of this study will be published in the first half of 2025, and a new number is planned for 2026.

First -hand witness Wi Wi how scientists vania Mendos, Viviam Crespo and Paola Cervantes – along with the local peasants, such as Basilio Rodriguez – held the census. They used traditional fishing techniques along with innovative methods such as Analysis of DNA of the Environmentwhere the species can be traced by DNA hunting that it throws into its surrounding habitat.

The study is conducted at dawn at Xochimilco, one of the last remnants of the ancient lake system of the Mexico pool, where the plant and animal species that modernity has been wiped out by other parts of Mexico City still survive. This is a magical oasis in the capital of the monster, which looks like something from a Mexican tale where herons and pelicans are heard. As we travel through the landscape of a wooden raft, we see the lake still filled ChinampusThe artificial agricultural islands for the first time developed in before Spanish -American times and who amaze the first Spaniards to come to these lands.

Axolotl has four legs, a long tail and is night and carnivorous. They appear in four different colors: Wild Axolotls have a black-brown tint, while mutant variants include leucidal (white with dark eyes), white albinos and gold albinos. “We have not found any axolots so far; however, DNA analysis offers a chance,” says Paola Cervantes, a graduate in the field of land science and part of the UNAM team for this year’s census.