Axolotls, the beautiful and charismatic creatures that become famous for the video game “Minecraft”, are in a free fall.
Contamination, modern agriculture and the introduction of invading fish that take advantage of critical endangered species have reduced their habitat to single lake channels in Mexico.
But a new study offers a ray of hope: Axolotls raised in captivity can survive in nature, Justine McDaniel reported for Washington Post.
“This is a great step, because in conservation programs when you have animals in captivity and you take them back to nature … there is a lot of mortality,” Alejandra Ramos, main author of the study and member of the Faculty of Sciences in the Autonomous.
Axolotls have been raised for a long time in laboratories, and are a popular aquarium pet, but increasing their numbers in nature has proven to be a much greater challenge.
The study labeled 18 axolotls with radio transmitters that would allow them to track, then released eight in Lake Xochimilco of Mexico City and 10 in a man -made wetland. At least twice a day for 40 days, the researchers visited the sites to collect data.
Notable, the researchers found that the Axolotls introduced a man -made pound also survived, a promising finding for the potential of artificial leglands to help the conservation of Axolotl, the study authors said.
To find is important in the event that its habitat does not recover or worsen climate change, said Esther Quintero, international conservation biologist-mexico, The Washington Post.
“He is a child or how to have a plan B,” he said. “One can at least have two different places where we can restart the population.”
Conservation International is supporting a project at Lake Xochimilco to restore the natural habitat of Axolotl returning to ancestral agricultural practices. By supporting the transition from farmers to pesticide -free agriculture and helping to install biofilters to clean the water, the project aims to restore the thesis so that axolotls can prosper in the future.
“Saving the Axolotl goes beyond that he likes this creature that is really adorable,” Quintero told the post. “There is no future for any kind without its habitat.”
Read the complete story of the Washington Post here.
Mary Kate McCoy is a personnel writer at Conservation International. Why read more stories like this? Register to obtain updates by email. In addition, please support our critical work.
