This story begins many years ago. The Mexican highlands are still moist and fertile. As millenia pass, they dry out, and become an unfruitful place for salamanders. Eventually, to avoid drying out entirely, the salamanders forgo the typical amphibian transformation process from larvae to salamander, and instead stay in the water forever. To survive, they retain some typical larval attributes throughout adulthood. Because their habitat was restricted to the water, isolating them from other salamander populations, these “eternal infants” developed into an independent species: the Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander.