In this piece, I will explore axolotl’s unique biology as it relates to the polycrisis, but there is a second part by Aishwarya Khanduja.

Axolotls only live in one lake

Lake Xochimilco (pronounced “ho-chi-mil-co” in Spanish) at the south end of Mexico City is dotted with rainbow-bright party boats full of margarita mix and floating mariachi bands. A network of canals created by the Aztecs, who formed agrarian dams, it has been decimated by pollution and drainage. The party rafts float on top of what was once a flourishing ecosystem, perfectly suited to these amazing animals.

These water-dwelling salamanders can’t simply be relocated. The exact temperature, altitude, and nutrient balance is specific to this region. The challenge of climate change is synergistic with the local risks, but they have unique vulnerabilities.

Speaking of nutrients

Where Mexico City lies used to be a giant lake. The city began as a group of islands inside Lake Texcoco. This is why it suffers during earthquakes and continues to sink (about 10 metres in the last 100 years).

The original city was connected by bridges to the floating man-made islands (chinampas - “chee-nam-paz”), but as the city expanded, lakes were drained and the ecosystem balance suffered.

Amazingly, you can visit artifacts from the original city in the Museo del Templo Mayor in the city centre - which was excavated when pieces were discovered underneath existing buildings. Colonial interests decimated the original structures over 500 years ago. (You can also check out the Axolotl museum, which is very grassroots and sweet.)

What we destroy

The chinampas method of farming is highly efficacious, so there’s a pull to preserve this too. Some say it’s the origin of modern hydroponics, with an ancient lineage.

Chinampas provide many benefits, including filtering of water, regulation of flow and temperature, and providing a refuge for biodiversity. This prevents pests as well as weeds, and allows for a diverse range of agricultural activities.

The original roadmaps to this system were laid by Aztecs, which is a clear case of ancient ways of knowing around complex adaptive systems, emergence, and iterations. (This is what we study in social innovation, so Indigenous examples make sense due to their lives so interconnected with all living ecosystems.)

Axolotls, too, are part of what keeps the waterways clean, mostly by their eating habits. Which means, if each is allowed to flourish, that the ecosystem homeostasis would benefit.

For every good intention

Part of what tipped the balance against axolotls came from the agricultural branch of the UN, which was instrumental in the introduction of carp and tilapia into the waterways around Mexico City.

The intended outcome was to provide cheap and sustainable food production, in a city that had issues with sufficient nutrition for its population. It made sense to use a canal system so intricately connected to the city to solve the problem of protein agriculture. It made sense that cheap, prolific fish as food would solve one problem.

But it caused a great imbalance.

The unintended outcome was that these wee salamanders were forced to compete with scrappier fish for scarcer and scarcer resources. And they’re losing.

The magic

One of the many remarkable features of axolotls is that they can regenerate. Limbs, which is cool enough, but also their liver or heart, brain or eyes. It takes a lot of energy for them to do it, which places them at further risk of predation or capture. Sadly, people still eat them, even knowing they’re vulnerable and despite living in a protected World Heritage Site.

In a dystopian novel somewhere, these amazing properties either allow humans to splice our genes to do the same, or the axolotls inherit the earth that we seem so quick to destroy.

If we don’t get to them first.

Living Thermometers

Rarely do we have a living, breathing example of a quantitative measurement of ecosystem health. As Mexico City grows, so does the need for fish in the Xochimilco canals. As tourism descends in droves, the party boats ride on.

And the axolotl’s numbers dwindle.

Well, apart from cute pets. (Awww look they’re always smiling, little simps)

It’s a micro-level fractal of the damage we do to planetary health. One that can be measured. They are so critically endangered that some estimates only 50 are left in the wild - more optimistic researchers hypothesize up to 1,000. Those that are bred in captivity are vulnerable as well, from disease due to lack of genetic diversity.

This is a clear narrative of how diversity saves us and how humans attempt piecemeal solutions without acknowledging interdependence and complexity. But you knew that.

Next, I encourage you to read the second part of this essay by Aishwarya Khanduja titled “The Axolotl Effect” related to complex systems.