X is for Xolotl (Folktales of Endangered Species)

Welcome to the 2020 A to Z blogging challenge! This year my theme is Folktales of Endangered Species. I am researching cool traditional stories about rare, fascinating animals - to raise awareness of what we might lose if we don't get our collective shit together. Enjoy!

Species: Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)

Status: Critically endangered

How Xolotl became an axolotl

Aztec myth

The god Xolotl was the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. He was the god of Venus, fire, lightning, sickness, and monstrosities. He guarded the Sun as it traveled across the Underworld every night, and he similarly guarded the souls on their journey into the afterlife. He gained this role after he descended into the Underworld together with his brother to retrieve the bones of the people of an earlier world, and use them to create the humans we are today. 

When the Fifth Sun was created (see the Volcano rabbits post two days ago), initially it didn't move. The God of Winds then started sacrificing all the other gods to make the Sun move forward. Xolotl did not want to be killed, so he turned himself first into maize, then into a maguey plant (giving these two important food sources to the people), then into an axolotl and threw himself into Lake Xochimilco (now the only lake axolotls can be found in). In some versions of the myth he was captured and killed anyway, while in others he avoided his fate by hiding as this strange, magical amphibian ever since. 

Sources: Read about Xoloth here, here, here, or here.

How can I help?

Read about conservation efforts here or here.
Plus here is a video about how to correctly pronounce axolotl.

What being would you turn into to avoid death?