Axolotls are popular pets—but in the wild, these amphibians are on the brink of extinction. That’s because they’ve lost most of their wetland habitat in central Mexico. To see if captive-bred axolotls could survive in the wild, scientists recently released 18 at two wetland locations in Mexico City.
“They all survived,” says Alejandra Ramos, a scientist who worked on the study. The captive-bred axolotls traveled long distances, hunted, and even laid eggs! This study offers hope that axolotls could someday thrive again in the wild.