Mexican water monster nowhere to be found

Mexican water monster nowhere to be found
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button
ADVERTISEMENT

It is feared that Mexico’s Walking Fish may be on death row, if the species axolotl hasn’t already been killed off by pollution and disappeared.

Millions once lived in the giant lakes of Mexico City, but their only remaining habitat in the wild is (or was) Lake Xochimilco. Biologists recently spent three months looking there and didn’t find one.

The axolotl has four stubby legs, a salamander creature. Aztec legend says the god of death and lightning, Xolotl, to escape death at the hands of the other gods turned himself into an axolotl and found a safe lake.

This February, researchers will go looking again for three months, hoping they will find breeding going on in cooler water.

Why should we care?

Well science considers the axolotl a model for regeneration, as it can regrow lost appendages, even restore parts of their brains, and accept and function with transplants.

That could be useful.

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Thousands in Mexico demand justice for LGBTQ+ figure found dead after death threats

WATCH: Mexican revellers take to the streets in Day of the Dead parade

Watch: Mexicans remember their ancestors on the Day of the Dead