Axolotl Facts for Kids
Ambystoma mexicanum · am-BIS-tuh-muh mex-ih-KAY-num
It keeps its feathery gills its whole life and can regrow its legs.
- 🏃 speed: not yet checked
- ⚖️ weight: not yet checked
- 📏 12 in30 cm1 long
- 🎂 lifespan: not yet checked
- 🍽️ meat
- In great danger (Critically Endangered)
The axolotl is a salamander that lives in water all its life. It has frilly gills on the sides of its head. Its wide mouth looks like a smile.
Most salamanders grow up and walk onto land, but an axolotl stays in the water and keeps its gills. It can regrow a lost leg or tail, and even parts of its heart and spinal cord. Wild axolotls are dark brownish-green, while pet ones can be pink, white or gold.
Axolotls reach full size and can lay eggs without ever changing into land animals, which is why they still look like young salamanders. Scientists study how they regrow body parts, hoping to learn how healing works. In the wild, axolotls live only in the canals near Mexico City, and they are critically endangered, because the city has grown and the water has become polluted. People are cleaning the canals and making safe places for wild axolotls to live.
How big is a axolotl?
Axolotl in numbers
| Length | 12 in30 cm1up to |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | no checked number yet |
| Weight | no checked number yet |
| Top speed | no checked number yet |
| How long it lives | no checked number yet |
| What it eats | worms, insects, snails and small fish |
| Where it lives | the lakes and canals of Xochimilco, near Mexico City in Mexico |
| What kind | Amphibians |
| Is it in danger? | In great danger (Critically Endangered)2 |
A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.
Wow!
- It can regrow legs, a tail, and even parts of its heart.
- It never leaves the water to live on land.
- Wild axolotls live in only one place on Earth.
Compare the axolotl
- 🐸 vs 🐸 Hellbender
- 🐸 vs 🐸 Japanese giant salamander
- 🐸 vs 🐸 Spotted salamander
- ⚖️ Compare with any animal
Friends and neighbours
Hellbender
Spotted salamander
Japanese giant salamanderThree questions
Books about the axolotl, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the axolotl for free.
Where these numbers come from
- US Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: axolotl profile, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Axolotl (Q22718), checked 30 October 2026.