Population density has been reduced by 99.5% due to pollution, but scientists believe that cultural icons may help with tissue healing and cancer recovery.
On Friday, ecologists from Mexico’s National Autonomous University revived a fundraising initiative to support efforts to conserve axolotls, a native species of salamander that resembles fish and is endangered.
Adoptaxolotl is a campaign that allows people to virtually adopt one of the tiny “water monsters” for as little as 600 pesos, or about $35. You can get real-time health updates on your axolotl through virtual adoption. Donors can purchase a virtual meal for one of the animals, which are reasonably well-liked pets in the US, for less money.
Scientists organizing the fundraiser claim that in less than 20 years, the population density of the Mexican axolotl has decreased by 99.5% in its primary habitat.
The Adoptaxolotl campaign from the previous year raised slightly over 450,000 pesos ($26,300) for the purpose of restoring habitat in the historic Aztec canals of Xochimilco, a southern borough of Mexico City, as well as an experimental captive-breeding program.
However, according to Alejandro Calzada, an ecologist surveying lesser-known axolotl species for the government’s environment department, there are still insufficient resources for in-depth research.
Lead researcher Calzada said, “We lack big monitoring of all the streams in Mexico City,” let alone the entire nation. Her team consists of nine people. “That is insufficient for this large area.”
Almost all 18 species of axolotls in Mexico are critically endangered, despite the species’ recent surge in popularity. The threats they face include non-native rainbow trout, a deadly amphibian fungus, and encroaching water pollution.
According to the National Autonomous University’s most recent census, there are currently only 36 axolotls in Mexico, down from an average of 6,000 per square kilometer when scientists first started studying them. In the wild, there are fewer than 1,000 Mexican axolotls, according to a more recent international study.
One of the scientists at the university who announced the fundraiser, Luis Zambrano González, told the Associated Press that he hopes to start a new census in March—the first since 2014.
Zambrano declared, “Xochimilco is out of time.” Pollution is “invading” areas like soccer fields and floating dens. It is really depressing.
It is difficult to determine how long the axolotl species will survive and where to allocate the limited resources without information on the number and distribution of the various axolotl species in Mexico.
Calzada stated, “I know that we need to work quickly.”
Because of their unusual, slimy appearance and remarkable capacity for limb regeneration, axolotls have become a cultural icon in Mexico. Researchers worldwide believe that this restorative force may contain the key to tissue regeneration and even cancer recovery.
Government conservation initiatives in the past have mostly concentrated on the most well-known species—the Mexican axolotl, which is located in Xochimilco. However, there are other species found all over the nation, from the northern Sonora desert to the tiny streams in the Mexico Valley.
The canals’ water quality has been harmed by Mexico City’s increasing urbanization, and rainbow trout that escape from nearby farms can dispense with axolotls and consume their food in the lakes surrounding the capital.
According to Calzada, his team is discovering more and more dead axolotls from the skin-eating chytrid fungus, which is causing catastrophic amphibian die-offs from Europe to Australia.
Although Calzada’s team relies on a volunteer corps and academics depend on donations, the Mexican government recently approved an 11% funding cut for its environment department.
An analysis of Mexico’s 2024 budget shows that, over the course of its six-year term, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration will have allocated 35% less funding to the nation’s environment department than its predecessor.