| | |  Editorials | Environmental | February 2009 
Mexico's Beloved "Axolotl" at Risk
 Reuters
Pollution and exotic fish are putting the Mexican aquatic salamander, a revered symbol of central Mexico, in danger of extinction.
Known in Spanish as the axolotl, the Mexican amphibian is related to toads and frogs.
Many also believe it to be the living disciple of the god of deformations and death, Xolotl, which means water dog.
(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNAM BIOLOGY INSTITUTE HEAD RESEARCHER, DR. LUIS ZAMBRANO: "We have two theories to explain why the axolotls are becoming extinct. One has to do with the effects we call abiotic or basically pollution and the other is the biotic effect, referring to introduced species."
"The problem is they are very resistant species. The carpa (fish) comes from China and the tilapia (fish) comes from Africa. They are very resistant, which is why they were selected for the aquatic life. But when they compete against native species, the native species loses. We have carried out experiments here for example to establish who eats who and when. We see that the carpias and tilapias basically eat the axolotl eggs and young. The axolotls are incapable of fighting back."
"The axolotl is our species from the centre of the country. It's the emblem of Mexicans living in the middle of the country. It's so important for the Mexica (sic) culture that it's considered the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl. The Mexicas considered the axolotl so important that it survived the decree of Quetzalcoatl that all Gods should kill each other so there would be one left. For them, (the axolotl) was very important and yet we've abandoned it. We don't care about it. Neither do we care about Xochimilco." |
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