Welcoming Our New Conservation Ambassador, the Axolotl!

Get to know this unique animal and the Luk family, the donors who support it!

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Before we dive into the science of the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), let’s start with its pronunciation.

You may have heard its common English pronunciation before, AKsuhlotl. In its origin language Nahuatl, it's AhSHOlut.

Either way you say it, this animal is cute as heck.

Today, the axolotl’s unmatched ability to regenerate makes it one of the most examined salamanders in the world. No matter how many times an axolotl loses a body part—limb, organ, piece of spine, skeleton and even brain!—they can regenerate it perfectly with no scarring.

Over 1,000 times more resistant to cancer than mammals, the axolotl has helped scientists understand how organs develop; the causes of spina bifida; embryo cells and regenerative medicine.

Visitors can learn more about this critically endangered species in Search: Sara Stern Gallery. Come say hi to Xochimilco (Nahuatl for "flower field," pronounced: show-chee-meal-ko or sow-chee-meal-ko), named after the lake in Central Mexico where the last remaining native axolotls live. Xochi is supported by Science World donor and Board member Ivor Luk and his family.

Bitten By the Giving Bug

For his first several years as a Vancouverite, Ivor Luk had no idea Science World was a non-profit, or that we deliver free programming to every region in BC. “There’s a much bigger mission that so few people have any appreciation of. If they did, I think they’d be much more willing to give.”

Ivor, a Director on the Board of Deloitte Canada & Chile, moved to Vancouver in 2009 as BC’s Financial Advisory Managing Partner. At the time, his first son was two years old, and they spent many days under the dome interacting with the galleries and exhibits. “My kids never get bored at Science World. I find it so fascinating.”

He made his first gift to Science World in 2017, the same year he visited our Feature Exhibition Made In Canada, a show that still stays with him today.

As a Londoner, he didn’t know that so many major technological innovations (IMAX, Blackberry, Java, and many more) were Canadian. “Canadians punch well above their weight,” he says, “but the infrastructure to help more Canadian start-ups needs more support. Made in Canada highlighted there are way more Canadians than we think playing at the global level.”

Also in 2017, Science World’s Board recruited new members and Ivor joined. “I was very grateful they picked me.”

Today, he and his family support three creatures in Search: the Costa Rican zebra tarantula, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, and now the axolotl. We call them Ambassadors because they bring knowledge about their habitats, ecosystems and adaptations to Science World visitors.

Ivor supports the animals because it makes the concept of “paying it forward” visible to his kids in a place they love and are inspired by. “I give to Science World because Science World has given so much to me and my family. I really want my kids to be accustomed to giving back to the community so they continue to do so as they grow up.”

In his job, Ivor helps BC start-ups so they can fuel the innovation needed for the province’s future. He views his support of Science World as similar work. “I don’t see my giving as a donation, I see it as an investment. Because there will be a return at some point for society at large.”

He cites last year’s shift to remote work and this year’s COVID-19 vaccine as key innovations that, without investment, wouldn’t have been possible. He wonders what new scientific capabilities lie just beyond our reach?

“Science evolves, and it evolves so quickly. We need our kids to help us make it happen. It’s not my generation who’ll do it. It’s the next generation who are going to make those leaps of invention for us.”

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Fund the Future

Join Ivor Luk and family and support our $10 million dollar campaign. Because the future needs more nerds.