Leora's Stream Salamander

Leora's stream salamander, also called ajolote, is a critically endangered mole salamander known from a single population on Mount Tlaloc within Iztaccihuatl Popocatepetl National Park, on the border of the State of Mexico and Puebla. It lives in cold mountain streams between 12 and 15 degrees Celsius with highly oxygenated water, set within alpine grassland and mountain forest at high elevation near Mexico City. It is named for Leora T. Hughes, wife of the amateur herpetologist who collected the original specimen, and it faces severe threats from forest clearance, water pollution, human water consumption, cattle grazing, and traditional hunting for food within its extremely limited range.