According to Montero, the myth implies that, after a god’s passing, its essence gets imprisoned in a mundane creature, subject to the cycles of life and death. Axolotl then carries within itself the Xolotl deity, and when the animal dies and its divine substance transits to the underworld, it later resurfaces to the earth and a new axolotl is born.

The axolotl is not just an amphibian in Mexico; it's a figure deeply rooted in Nahuatl mythology, associated with the god Xolotl.

There are no official estimates of the current axolotl population, but the species endemic of central Mexico is ‘critically endangered’.