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Aztec Flora and Fauna

Aztec Flora and Fauna

Mexicolore’s animated alligator-greets-butterfly

According to Alejandro de Avila (Flora: The Aztec Herbal), Mexico boasts one of the richest and most complex floras on the planet, with an estimated total of between 23,000 and 30,000 species.
We’re delighted to launch these pages in collaboration with Renee McGarry, doctoral candidate in art history at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Her dissertation, Exotic Contact: Flora and Fauna in Mexica (Aztec) Visual Culture, considers how plants and animals are represented in Aztec sculpture and painted books.

‘Why no bears in Aztec mythology?’Read of the important links between the Aztecs and the pelican...‘How important were fish to the Aztecs, were they symbolic?’‘Did the Aztecs have any symbolism or knowledge of sharks or swordfish?’‘Did crows mean anything to the Aztecs?’Hear the (brief!) sound of a hummingbird - Tlacatecco websiteWhat about the cougar (puma)?
Plants and animals had a strong cosmomagical

Plants and animals had a strong cosmomagical meaning in the lives of the Mexica/Aztecs

Monarch butterflies are taking on new

Monarch butterflies are taking on newmeanings in today’s global culture...

The humble toad has profound associations,

The humble toad has profound associations,way beyond the earth and the rainy season...

The Aztecs called the iguana

The Aztecs called the iguanaa ‘tree lizard’...

The Mexica called American bitterns

The Mexica called American bitterns‘water drum’ birds...

The hawkmoth behaves

The hawkmoth behavesas a shaman itself...

Plants sacred to the Mexica now figure

Plants sacred to the Mexica now figuresignificantly in Western healing practices...

The Aztecs extracted a balsamic oleoresin

The Aztecs extracted a balsamic oleoresinfrom the sacred oyametl tree

Maguey - ‘innumerables casi

Maguey - ‘innumerables casison los usos de esta planta...’

The Mexica-Aztecs used dogs as

The Mexica-Aztecs used dogs ashot-water bottles...!

Opossum: the only marsupial mammal

Opossum: the only marsupial mammalknown to the Mexica/Aztecs...

The coyote held a special place as a patron

The coyote held a special place as a patronof Aztec military activities

The Mesoamerican turtle - linked symbolically

The Mesoamerican turtle - linked symbolicallyto the creation of the world...

The butterfly: striking symbol of fire, paradise,

The butterfly: striking symbol of fire, paradise,of heroes, and the metamorphosed souls of dead warriors...

Did the hummingbird’s cry call the Mexica

Did the hummingbird’s cry call the Mexicaonward on their journey from Aztlan?

In ancient Mesoamerica armadillos

In ancient Mesoamerica armadilloswere associated with fertility and abundance...

How are armadillos viewed

How are armadillos viewedon the ground in La Huasteca?

The Aztecs had their own poppy

The Aztecs had their own poppyor ‘flower of the dead’

In Mesoamerica the deer

In Mesoamerica the deerwas ‘a mythological animal par excellence’

The rare and endangered {italic{bold{brownaxolotl}}}

The rare and endangered axolotl- and its cultural importance in Mexico

The rattlesnake was associated with Venus

The rattlesnake was associated with Venusin Mesoamerican mythology

‘Is it true an Aztec person could be killed

‘Is it true an Aztec person could be killedfor cutting down a tree...?’

The sunflower - one of Mexico’s

The sunflower - one of Mexico’smany gifts to the world...

From Olmec to Aztec, the jaguar

From Olmec to Aztec, the jaguarprowls the art of most ancient Mexican civilisations

For the Mexica the eagle hunts like a sunbeam,

For the Mexica the eagle hunts like a sunbeam,and leads the sun across the sky...

Cacti have been a source of food

Cacti have been a source of foodand medicine for millennia

The career of dog breeder must have

The career of dog breeder must havebeen a lucrative one in pre-Hispanic Mexico

Grasshoppers

Grasshoppershad a Jekyll & Hyde nature - so very Aztec!

The astonishing Axayacatl

The astonishing Axayacatlnourished the growing Aztec empire

Rare, stunningly beautiful, elusive, an artist’s dream

Rare, stunningly beautiful, elusive, an artist’s dream- is the quetzal the ultimate symbol of beauty?

Molluscs were both useful

Molluscs were both usefuland symbolic in the Mexica empire

While frogs helped feed the Aztecs,

While frogs helped feed the Aztecs,toads helped feed their religion...

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Aztec Flora and Fauna

Mexicolore’s animated alligator-greets-butterfly

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