The Aztec Salamander
Saving a cultural icon and biomedical marvel from extinction.
Discovery · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
Victoria Gill tells the extraordinary story of the Mexican axolotl: an amphibian that is both a cultural icon and a biomedical marvel. In its domesticated form, the aquatic salamander is a valuable laboratory animal and a popular pet around the world. But in the wild, the species is on the very edge of extinction. Victoria visits one of its last hold-outs among the polluted canals in the south of Mexico City, where she meets the scientists and farmers working to save it.
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker
Picture: Street Art, Credit: BBC