Meet The Axolotl — The Salamander That Can Regrow Its Own Brain

InnovationScienceMeet The Axolotl — The Salamander That Can Regrow Its Own BrainByScott Travers,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world.Follow AuthorMay 16, 2026, 02:30pm EDTThe axolotl may look cartoonishly harmless, but beneath its frilly gills lies one of evolution’s most astonishing survival abilities: functional brain regeneration.gettyThe axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) looks almost too whimsical to be real. Its feathery pink gills and a permanent half-smile make it look like a creature designed by a child with an overactive imagination. But don’t let its cartoonish exterior fool you. Beneath it lies one of the most extraordinary abilities in the animal kingdom: the power to rebuild parts of its own brain.It doesn’t simply patch it over, nor does it merely heal around the damage. The axolotl can produce brand new neurons, restore damaged or lost structures and reconnect circuits post-brain injury. For neuroscientists, this ability makes the axolotl a living paradox because the central nervous system is supposed to be fragile. For virtually all mammals, damage to the brain or spinal cord is irreversible because mature neurons rarely regenerate, and scar tissue forms quickly after injury. Yet the axolotl somehow sidesteps many of these limitations. And the deeper scientists look, the stranger the story becomes.How The Axolotl Rebuilds Its Brain, Step By StepThe process of brain regeneration in axolotls was explored in detail in a 2013 study published in Neural Development. What researchers found was a highly coordinated sequence of events that resembles a replay of embryonic development.When part of the axolotl’s telencephalon (the major region of the forebrain involved in sensory processing and behavior) is injured or removed, the first thing that happens is surprisingly mundane: the wound closes. Cells surrounding the damaged area seal the opening to s...