The race to save a salamander that spawned a global cottage industry

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. XOCHIMILCO, Mexico—A homely aquatic salamander with a cartoonish smile and the ability to regenerate lost body parts has become a global phenomenon, appearing as characters in Minecraft, Fortnite and Pokémon and inspiring a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy. Where the axolotl can barely be found: in its natural habitat in Mexico.

The axolotl (pronounced ah-SHO-lohtl) is hurtling toward extinction, just as it becomes globally familiar with a cottage industry using its image to sell beer, T-shirts and videogames. Scientists estimate that no more than 1,000—and perhaps as few as 50—are left in the wild in their last natural habitat, a Venice-like system of canals and islands built by the Aztecs that still exists in the Mexico City borough of Xochimilco. In the last big survey of axolotls in Xochimilco in 2014, they numbered no more than 35 per square kilometer, down from 6,000 in 1998.

Mexican researchers said a new survey, due this summer, is likely to count even fewer. “The last time we saw an axolotl was four years ago," said David Jiménez Garcés, Xochimilco resident and activist who supports local farmers on the area’s agricultural chinampas, or islands. Scientists and activists are now racing to save the axolotl in the wild from pollution, predators and urbanization, hoping its global celebrity will raise enough awareness to protect it.

David Jiménez Garcés, a Xochimilco resident and activist. “Today we are seeing an axolotl boom on a social and cultural level in the country and in the world, which, from my perspective, is marvelous. Why? Because you can’t save something that you don’t know about," said Pamela Valencia, founder of the National Axolotl Museum in Mexico City.