In the wild, they’ll eat almost anything that’s accessible, which could include insects, worms, small fish, and tadpoles. However, like many amphibians, axolotls don’t have teeth.

But urban sprawl, contaminated water and non-native fish that like to eat young axolotls have led to the salamander’s near-total collapse, according to population surveys. The axolotl is not the ...

According to Montero, the myth implies that, after a god’s passing, its essence gets imprisoned in a mundane creature, ...