Forget Adulting: Nature Already Figured Out How to Skip It

"Why Grow Up?"

My 5 year old daughter has a new favorite stuffy, Pinky, the big pink squishy axolotl. Some days, I wish I could have my 5 year-old's energy, but then I realized it would be even nicer to have the superpowers of an axolotl.

Axolotls are basically nature's ultimate "why grow up?" icon. They're one of the few salamanders that never go through full metamorphosis. Most amphibians outgrow their gills and move to land, but axolotls just... don't. They stay aquatic, keep their feathery external gills, and hang onto their "larval" look their entire lives (a trait scientists call neoteny). Even weirder: they're basically real-life regeneration machines. Lose a leg, a piece of your heart, or even part of your brain? An axolotl can just regrow it! No scars, no fuss.

Wouldn't it be nice not to grow up?

—Lauren