The range used to be somewhat larger, but the environment has been reduced (most of what’s now Mexico city used to be a lake). It needs the right combination of

The range used to be somewhat larger, but the environment has been reduced (most of what’s now Mexico city used to be a lake). It needs the right combination of climate and environment which doesn’t really exist outside of Mexico City (and that environment is constantly being encroached upon and degraded, although it is relatively protected at least). It seems that many people know about the axolotl courtesy of Minecraft which on the one hand is cool because hey, now they know about this endangered species but on the other hand is not cool because a not insignificant number of them think, hey I want one as a pet which leads to poaching and death because neither poachers nor video gamers are adept at caring for fragile amphibians.