‘Adopt an axolotl’ campaign launches in Mexico to save iconic species from pollution and trout

By DANIEL SHAILER
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Academics in Mexico City are asking for donations to protect axolotls, an iconic fish-like type of salamander. The campaign asks people for as little as 600 pesos to virtually adopt one of the tiny “water monsters.” In their main habitat the population density of Mexican axolotls has plummeted 99.5% in under two decades, according to scientists. The money helps to fund experimental breeding programs and habitat restoration in Mexico City. But scientists say there is still not enough support for the endangered “water monsters.” Almost all 18 species of axolotl in Mexico remain critically endangered, threatened by encroaching water pollution, a deadly amphibian fungus and non-native rainbow trout.