Have you ever seen a creature that seems to smile at you from behind the glass, with feathery gills waving like carnival ...

But wild axolotls, endemic to a single lake in Mexico, are critically endangered due to degradation of their native wetlands, with only 50 to 1,000 individuals left in the wild.

These glow-in-the-dark axolotls can regrow lost limbs — and scientists say studying them could eventually help humans do the same.

Axolotls might be cute enough to feature in a wide variety of games, TV shows, and children's toy brands, but that's not all that makes them special: The species is also exceptionally good at ...

Like axolotls, humans also naturally have retinoic acid. Monaghan says the findings could help scientists engineer a similar biological process to one day allow humans to regrow limbs, he said.