“A perpetually smiling salamander that regrows almost anything you remove.”

The axolotl is a salamander that decided growing up was optional and stayed a smiling, feathery-gilled baby for life — a trick called neoteny. While most amphibians crawl onto land, the axolotl just keeps living underwater looking like a cartoon, frill of gills framing a face locked in a permanent serene grin. Its real superpower, though, is regeneration: lose a leg, part of the heart, sections of the spinal cord, even bits of brain, and the axolotl simply regrows them, perfectly, scar-free, over and over. Scientists adore it for this and study it obsessively. The cruel irony is that this nearly indestructible animal is critically endangered in the wild, surviving in just a few canals near Mexico City — though millions thrive in tanks worldwide, smiling, regrowing, unbothered.

Scientific name

Ambystoma mexicanum

Size

Forearm-length (up to ~30 cm).

Habitat

Lake and canal remnants of Xochimilco, Mexico City.

Diet

Worms, insect larvae, small fish, and crustaceans.

Conservation

CR · Critically Endangered

Picnic threat level

Picnic threat: none. Would smile at your sandwich and regrow a foot.

LoKiLeCh, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Learn more →