Extinction looming for legendary Mexican salamander

A few weeks ago, I wrote a quick post on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s “Red List” of endangered species, which predicted that about half of the world’s species could go extinct in the next century.

Today, I came across a story by the AP about the axolotl, an aquatic salamander found in the polluted canals and lakes surrounding Mexico City, which is threatened with extinction in the wild due to environmental damage to its habitat, largely from agricultural runoff and partially treated sewage, both of which flow freely into the canals where it lives.

The axolotl was prolific before the arrival of the Spanish, who first drained the many lakes in the region.

Non-native fish like tilapia, deliberately introduced into the water system many years ago in an failed attempt to build a fishery, are also out-competing the axolotl for food.

Of course, it should be noted that the axolotl only faces extinction in the wild — it is thriving in captivity, where it is bred both for scientific purposes (researchers are still trying to figure out how it regenerates lost limbs and other neat tricks) and apparently as a pet (yes, I do want one).

The story, by AP reporter David Koop, is here.

Clearly, by the photo above (by John Clare, via www.axolotl.org), the axolotl is a cute little bugger and deserves to live on.

Anyway, the story got me thinking about species extinction in general, and what, if anything, we can do about it.

Here in Arizona, we’ve certainly got our own biodiversity problems, with megafauna like condors and wolves down to only a few dozen members, and more than 100 other species, from bears to mice, also barely hanging on.

And while there are many causes for species loss in Arizona, one factor comes up time and time again: over-grazing. According to one report, by Robert Witzeman, a conservationist based in Phoenix, overgrazing is a contributing factor in the decline of 70 of the 120 or so endangered or threatened species in the state.

Check out his damning report here.

On his website, Witzeman writes:

“The state’s cottonwood/willow riparian habitat has been 99% destroyed by cattle or by dams which, for the most part, provided water for cattle forage or feed. Livestock have consumed the riparian saplings and seedlings as if they were ice cream here. There has been little recruitment of the cottonwood/willow vegetation and other native plant species.”

So, in honor of the axolotl — and all threatened creatures — I hereby nominate this coming December as “No Hamburgers Month”. Anyone (other than the United States’ 8.4 million vegetarians) with me?

John Collins Rudolf