Axolotls on the Verge of Extinction: An Alarming Fact
Author : Kantisree Goswami
Abstract :
The axolotls are the neotenic amphibians, closely related to the tiger salamanders. They are of immense zoological importance due to more than one reason. These unique creatures are endemic as they are the native residents of only Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco in central Mexico. Nowadays Lake Chalco no longer exists, and Lake Xochimilco remains as a remnant of its former self, mainly existing as canals. In the IUCN Red list, axolotls have been designated as critically endangered in the wild. Unfortunately, these small, attractive creatures are on the verge of extinction in the wild, as revealed by some recent studies. Surveys in past twenty years have recorded gradually declining number of axolotls in their native habitat. In 2014 researchers found less than one axolotl per square kilometer of the lake, which is quite an alarming number. The major causes of such decline have been enlisted as: urbanization, water pollution, and the massive invasion of exotic predator fishes. Though the axolotls are not yet totally extinct from the world, as they have been cultured in several laboratories, but restoring their population in the wild, has now became a major challenge for the conservation biologists. They are trying for it in different ways. Let us hope for a better future, where these wonderful creatures can get back their old status in the wild.
Keywords :
Axolotl, neoteny, limb regeneration, lake xochimilco, extinction, restoration
