I do keep wondering why zoos globally have not come together to save the critically endangered axolotls from Xochimilco and Chalco Lakes. What is wrong with using any of the captive stocks?
Also and more pertinently: Why has the clean up of both lakes from pollution from the City till date not been done?
The Universidad Nacional de Mexico where i teach recently released 1000 captive bred axolotls in Lake Xochimilco. I asked a fellow teacher from the biology department why the axolotl has had such a hard time recovering in a protected area. he told that like most amphibians the axolotl is senstive to enivromental changes in the water. As a world heritage site Lake Xochimilco is monitered as to quality of water and land use. But when the rainy season comes mexico city drainage system overflows and spills into lake xochimilco. This has proven to be very difficult to solve. yet, 2 other suburban lakes in Mexico, lake chapala near Guadalajara and lake cuitzeo near morelia both are actually in worse condition than lake xochimilco which is at least covered by some legal protection as a world heritage site. lake chapala and lake cuitzeo are shrinking every year and may actually vanish in a few decades.
