{"id":1103518,"date":"2026-07-21T23:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1103518\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:46:17","slug":"birmingham-zoo-opens-new-axolotl-exhibit-spotlighting-critically-endangered-amphibian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1103518\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham Zoo opens new axolotl exhibit, spotlighting critically endangered amphibian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Birmingham Zoo opens new axolotl exhibit, spotlighting critically endangered amphibian<\/p>\n

\"Bryce<\/a><\/p>\n

The Birmingham Zoo has opened a new habitat featuring axolotls, a critically endangered amphibian known for its unusual appearance and remarkable ability to regenerate parts of its body. <\/p>\n

The zoo celebrated the exhibit with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday before opening it to visitors Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

“We are thrilled to welcome guests to this incredible new habitat and introduce them to a species that is as unique as it is inspiring,” Birmingham Zoo President and CEO Chris Pfefferkorn said. “The axolotl’s story of resilience, adaptation, and conservation reflects the mission of the Birmingham Zoo\u2014to connect people with wildlife and inspire action to protect our natural world. We are deeply grateful to our friend Ann Katholi for her vision and making this habitat possible.”<\/p>\n

Video below: Previous coverage<\/strong><\/p>\n

The habitat was funded through a donation from Birmingham Zoo supporter Ann Katholi.<\/p>\n

“Axolotls have always fascinated me because they represent both the incredible diversity of life on our planet and the urgent need to protect species before they disappear,” Katholi said. “Their resilience and uniqueness make them unforgettable, and I hope every guest who visits this habitat leaves with a greater appreciation for wildlife and conservation.”<\/p>\n

What are axolotls?<\/p>\n

Native to the waterways of Mexico, axolotls spend their entire lives underwater and retain their juvenile, or tadpole-like, features throughout adulthood.<\/p>\n

Bill Lang, the Birmingham Zoo’s director of marketing, explained the appeal of axolotls, which are popular in video games and have unique regenerative abilities<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“If they lose a limb or part of a brain, whatever, they can regrow it, so they’re really scientific. There’s a lot of interest scientifically about them, and plus, they’re just darn cute as heck,” Lang said. <\/p>\n

“They’re in Minecraft, they’re in Pok\u00e9mon, so there’s a lot of strong following behind the axolotls, and they’re amazing,” he added. <\/p>\n

Critically endangered<\/p>\n

The zoo hopes the new exhibit will help visitors learn about the conservation challenges facing axolotls in the wild.<\/p>\n

While we just think they’re cute, the goal is to teach people about how they’re critically endangered<\/a> in their native home of Mexico. This is mostly because of changes in water quality, habitat loss, and new fish species that compete with them for food.<\/p>\n

They are top predators in their natural habitats and eat molluscs, worms, larvae, crustaceans and small fish. They can live up to 15 years in the wild. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham Zoo opens new axolotl exhibit, spotlighting critically endangered amphibian The Birmingham Zoo has opened a new habitat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1103519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7820],"tags":[298446,301184,301186,301183,21129,301187,855,298444,748,3928,34527,301188,34444,393,301185,390,4884,301189,56796,1429,3589,2132,301190,301191,22883,457,8720,16,15,359,53063,1717],"class_list":["post-1103518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-birmingham","tag-amphibian","tag-april-robinson","tag-axolotl-exhibit","tag-axolotls","tag-baby","tag-bill-lang","tag-birmingham","tag-birmingham-zoo","tag-britain","tag-conservation","tag-daughter","tag-dinosaur-exhibit","tag-director","tag-england","tag-exciting-visitor","tag-family","tag-great-britain","tag-great-experience","tag-habitat","tag-life","tag-lot","tag-mexico","tag-new-axolotl-exhibit","tag-new-habitat","tag-part","tag-people","tag-resilience","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-video","tag-wild","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116960638318241338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1103518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1103519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1103518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1103518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}