Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander
Ambystoma dumerilii
Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander
Ambystoma dumerilii
CC goal
40 breeders
As at 05/2024
CC goal
225 animals
As at 05/2024
CC goal
40 breeders
As at 05/2024
CC goal
225 animals
As at 05/2024
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.
Neoteny – Maturity in the larval stage
The Axolotl is a close relative of the Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander. It also does not undergo a complete metamorphosis and keeps many larval characteristics as an adult.
The Axolotl is especially interesting to medical scientists because it keeps its larval tissue its entire life.
The Axolotl’s embryonic tissue allows for the regeneration of entire limbs and organs. Scientists hope to use this principle in transplantation medicine.
The Axolotl is also very interesting for genetic scientists. There are currently several artificially bred Axolotl forms, such as the Albino Axolotl.
Because of their many uses in research, millions of these animals are bred in laboratories worldwide.
In the wild, on the other hand, they are probably already extinct – there are no Axolotls left in their original homeland in Lake Texcoco, Mexico City.
Just like the Axolotl, the Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander can regenerate lost limbs.
A young Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander larva. Its species also retains many larval attributes in adulthood.
Many salamanders are partly or fully neotenous – retaining juvenile characteristics as adults. The Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum), for example, has neotenous populations as well as populations in which the animals turn into full-grown salamanders
The eternal larva
Lake Pátzcuaro Salamanders look like larvae their entire lives. Nevertheless, they are quite big: they can grow to up to 35 centimeters. Two of its remaining larval attributes are particularly striking: the strong, flat tail and the large outer gills. In addition to the gills, however, these salamanders can also breathe through their skin and lungs.
Living at Lake Pátzcuaro
Aerial view of Janitzio Island in Lake Pátzcuaro
Lake Pátzcuaro during sunset. The beauty of this place is deceiving: the lake is no longer inhabitable for the salamanders
The salamanders have trouble finding a suitable habitat due to the heavy pollution of Lake Pátzcuaro
Back in 1987, fishermen were still able to catch six tons of the salamanders in Lake Pátzcuaro
A popular meal in Pátzcuaro: anchovias fritas. The predatory fish introduced into the lake for fishing are another problem for the salamanders
Templo de Sagrario in Pátzcuaro – both an order of Dominican nuns and the Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander found refuge within these walls.
The Dominican convent’s neighboring building, where Lake Pátzcuaro Salamanders are bred to make cough syrup
Without the protection of the sisters, the Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander would be doomed
Rich Prey
Lake Pátzcuaro is located at an altitude of 1,920 meters in Michoacán, central Mexico. It has an area of 126 square kilometers – not much, considering this species has no other habitat worldwide. That is why it is especially tragic that the lake is so massively polluted. In addition, tons of the salamanders used to be hunted by fishermen.
The nuns saw the threat to God’s creation – and to the foundation of their lucrative pharmaceutical trade
Wall paintings in the monastery © Joachim Nerz
In God’s Name
Nuns from the convent came up with the idea of making cough syrup out of the salamanders. Although this sounds bizarre at first, it is probably what saved them from extinction, because the pious nuns noticed that the amphibians were becoming rarer and rarer. The nuns saw the threat to God’s creation – and to the basis of their lucrative cough syrup business. To counteract this threat, they started breeding the salamanders on a large scale in the convent.
Breeding behind monastery walls
It turns out that the nuns were quite talented breeders. While the salamanders are almost completely extinct in the lake, the nuns have managed to breed some specimens in their monastery. Zoos and Citizen Conservation breeders are now also helping conserve this species.
For breeders
Basic information on biology and breeding
The Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander lives in water, and should therefore be bred in an aquarium of at least 200 liters. The most important requirement: a water temperature that does not rise above 22 °C! The temperature should be even colder in winter. The animals are active year-round, eat earthworms, fish, Axolotl-pellets, and are altogether low-maintenance aquarium inhabitants.