My son could not have been more excited, shouting across the aquarium to come look. Was it a turtle? A small shark?
When I meandered over to the aquarium window inside the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center in Willow Springs, I found what had captured his attention: a strange swimming white blob with fins behind its head.
I had never heard of the creature. Perhaps you haven’t either?
Allow me to introduce the axolotl, an amphibian and also all the rage at the moment of many Chicago classroom conversations. Leaping into the spotlight thanks to their quirky charm, regenerative superpowers and a starring role in the popular video game Minecraft, they are a budding star at local aquariums.
As the popularity of the axolotl has grown, attention is trickling down through multiple age ranges, with books and stuffed animals, even a ceramic paint set and stickers at Target.
Like many families, after we saw one and our child — and OK, also maybe a parent or two too — became obsessed, down an aquatic rabbit hole we went.
We got the graphic novel “Max, a Little Axolotl #1,” by Joey Spiotto. We added our request to the lines for the books “My Life at the Bottom: the Story of a Lonesome Axolotl” (number 2 in line for 7 copies) and “Axoltol: A First Field Guide to the Amphibian That Never Grows Up,” (number 3 in line for 29 copies) at the Chicago Public Library.
Once you start looking, you see them everywhere. We bought the “Max” book at our local bookstore, which also had finger-puppet axolotls available.
And we found other places in the Chicago area to add to our list to be checked off on our axolotl adventure — an axolotl is on display at the Pilcher Park Nature Center in Joliet, confirmed Nature Center Superintendent Katie Zaban.
And at the Brookfield Zoo, which began displaying one axolotl in a habitat last year, it’s an even bigger hit than the penguins right across from it, said Mike Masellis, lead animal care specialist for aquatics.
“It’s fun to see someone look at a penguin and then scream about an axolotl,” he said.
Last year, the Brookfield Zoo took in 20 rescued axolotls after they were confiscated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as they were illegally brought through O’Hare from Indonesia.
In November, the zoo posted a Facebook video about the new animal, calling them the “Peter Pans of salamanders.”
Through a naming contest, one was deemed “Sir Mix-O-Lotl;” fans quickly arrived. (The other rescues are not on display or were transferred to other organizations.)
Through my adventures, I now know that the axolotl is a critically endangered amphibian; they originate from Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco near Mexico City, according to the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Among the other facts I could now rattle off? Although amphibian — typically living on both water and land — the axolotl spends all its time in the water. They like to eat earthworms. They remain in a larval stage forever, never becoming full adults.
“They’re just kind of really cool animals,” Masellis said. “Maybe that’s why kids love them so much – they’re like children at heart.”
And, of course, coolest of all, it can regenerate parts of its body, fast. Masellis estimates the animal could regenerate a foot in a month. Wow!
As for our family, determined to find another axolotl, we made a plan to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo after school one day, where the axolotl’s entry popped up pretty quickly under “Most Popular” on the zoo map.
But after parking, I made a grave parental error, walking us past the seals into an area near the Pritzker Family Children’s Zoo that has no exit. The area is enclosed to trap children and keep them safe from the nearby street traffic but also encloses parents with poor senses of direction.
By the time we regrouped and emerged in the right direction, spotting the Regenstein Small Mammal-Reptile House and reaching for the doors, we found them — gasp! — locked. At 4:38 p.m., I’d made the rookie mistake of forgetting that many of the zoo’s buildings close early. My son, who is learning to read, sounded out the sign: “Closes 30 minutes before the zoo closes.”
We trudged back to the car.
A few days later, we went back. Walking into the reptile house, victory was ours — a gray-shaded axolotl was waiting for us in a prime spot, just near the door. Both of my kids bent down to look at it, peering through the glass.
“Mom,” my son asked me, “Wouldn’t it be cool to have an axolotl as a pet, so we could see it every day?”
Indeed, although this is something zookeepers very much dissuade, as axolotls should be cared for by experts who are familiar with their unique selves.
Instead, we’ll have multiple Chicago options to keep seeing them all.