You might know axolotls from video games like “Minecraft” and “Pokemon,” but the aquatic salamanders with unique, adorable and popular with people who keep amphians as pets.

Axolotls have become especially prevalent in youth culture, partly because younger people find them "incredibly cute," Monaghan says. "They're pink, they have feathers," but aren't birds.

According to Mori, many pink- and white-colored axolotls distributed in Japan and elsewhere have been genetically modified for ornamental purposes. Wild ones are typically dark-colored.