You may have seen axolotls — an amphibian in the salamander family with a permanent smile and pink, feathery gills — in a pet store or as a plushie in a window, but the endearing animal’s popularity seems to be rising just as it has become critically endangered in the wild.
James Monaghan, professor of biology at Northeastern University, specializes in the friendly looking critters, studying their amazing regenerative capabilities. “Axolotls have just exploded in [popularity] the past couple of years,” he says.
Monaghan began working with axolotls on the first day of his Ph.D. program. Back then, “no one knew in the general public what an axolotl was, so I’d have to explain,” he says.
That’s changed radically over the past 20 years, he continues. “Now I just can say, ‘Oh, I work on axolotls,’ and everyone just lights up.”
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Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
