Hello, Marnie Chesterton from Crowds

here. Just gate-crashing the podcast you actually downloaded

to mention mine.

If you're the type of person who's ever wondered

anything about the world around you,

then we are the podcast for you.

We take your questions on anything scientific and scour the globe for answers.

That's crowd science which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.

I'll get out of your ears now as you were.

You're listening to Discovery from the BBC World Service coming this week from Mexico City and

bringing you the story of a remarkable and paradoxical species of animal. I'm

Victoria Gill, BBC Science Correspondent.

This boat is taking me to one of the last refuges of the Mexican Axolotel, a strange-looking

salamander barely clinging to existence in its natural habitat but thriving in

countless numbers in captivity. I can't think of any other species that has a story like it. You name it it is hitting the

wild axelotle. So here we have an animal that is well known all around the world in

labs and pet shops, but in the wild is nearly extinct.

The Mexican Axolotel is an amphibian and a true legend.

It's fascinated scientists across the world for more than a century.

We need to protect the species, you know, it's an amazing species.

They have quite amazing powers of regeneration, so if they lose a limb they can grow another one.

You can regenerate the brain, you can regenerate a heart,

...