The axolotl isn’t just a frilly salamander  with a half-smile and a blank stare.

It’s named after an Aztec god, who escaped  death by morphing into this amphibian shape.

It’s a creature that’s a bridge between  worlds: the spiritual and the natural;  the aquatic and the terrestrial; survival and extinction.

Like most of its salamander relatives,   the axolotl begins its life as a  tiny, translucent egg laid underwater.

It grows into a tadpole -- a larva with  gills and a flattened, fin-shaped tail.

In time, many salamanders shed these  features, develop lungs, and crawl onto land.

But the axolotl never makes the transition ashore.

Even as it grows – up to a foot in length  – it hangs on to its larval lifestyle.

The gills are reddish-purple  from the blood cells pulsing   through them, pulling oxygen  directly from the water.

To breathe, it just flaps those gills!

But if that doesn’t work – like if  there’s not enough oxygen in the water –   the axolotl has a backup: Fully functional lungs it can  use to gulp air from the surface.

These organs are evolutionary leftovers  from when its ancestors lived on land.

The axolotl’s lungs are a rare example  of cryptic metamorphosis: When an   animal matures to its next stage of development  internally, but doesn’t show it on the outside.

Despite its flexibility, this  magnificent vertebrate is in trouble.

Since the 16th century, the  axolotl’s native habitat,   Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City, has been  built over and polluted as this megacity grew.

Now the lake is just a few canals, where  the axolotls battle invasive predators,   and warming waters from climate change.

Here, in the remnants of their ancestral  home, only a few hundred are left.

But scattered across the globe, you'll find  thousands of them–not in the wild though.

They’re in research labs.

Scientists are impressed by the  axolotl’s ability to rapidly regenerate   damaged limbs, organs, even parts of their brain.

And that’s amazing for a vertebrate  – an animal with a backbone – like   us.

Harnessing this healing ability  for humans would be a breakthrough.

But what does it mean if an animal  is thriving, only in captivity?

What is a species without its natural habitat?

To preserve what’s left of  the axolotl’s wild home,   a team of biologists at the National  Autonomous University of Mexico   started an innovative collaboration.

They work  with farmers of the 'chinampas' – the traditional   floating gardens along the Xochimilco  canals where the animals still live.

The farmers filter canal water for crops through  native aquatic plants and gravel, without the   use of pesticides.

This protects axolotls  from both pollution, and invasive predators.

For many in Mexico City, axolotls  have come to symbolize the connection   between humans and the natural world.

Humans have put axolotls – and our environment  – in peril.

But with traditional knowledge,   respect, and some ingenuity, we can give these  remarkable animals a chance to come back.