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Introduction

27th Sep 2010

Introduction

Renee McGarry, expert on Aztec flora and fauna

We are most grateful to Renee McGarry, doctoral candidate in art history at the City University of New York Graduate Center, for writing this introduction to our new series of pieces on key creatures and wildlife in the Aztec world. Renee’s dissertation, Exotic Contact: Flora and Fauna in Mexica (Aztec) Visual Culture, considers how plants and animals are represented in Aztec sculpture and painted books.

When considering the Aztecs’ vast and extensive knowledge of flora and fauna in the Basin of Mexico and beyond it is important to keep in mind that they did not always live there. In fact, they spent over 80 years migrating through Central Mexico to prepare them for the day that they would come to rule the region. During this time, they learned farming techniques, how to best utilize a variety of climates and altitudes to their benefit, and they saw a lot of flora and fauna that came to be a part of both their daily lives and their rich system of symbols.

Before delving into the flora and fauna of Central Mexico, it’s important to take a step back and think about the environment that surrounded it. The Aztecs founded their capital city, Tenochtitlan, where they saw an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus which grew from a rock. This unlikely omen - arguably a product of divine intervention - appeared in a rather inconvenient location: the middle of Lake Texcoco. Faithful to their patron god, Huitzilopochtli, the Aztecs settled there and began about building a vast urban center at approximately 2,240 meters above sea level, surrounded by mountains that sometimes reached more that than twice that high.

The climate of the Basin is fairly moderate and has only two seasons, wet and dry. During Pre-Columbian times, there were five lakes which provided both fresh and salt water to the Aztecs. The Aztecs built dams and aqueducts to control the water flow from these lakes and to provide fresh drinking water to Tenochtitlan. The dams and aqueducts also maximized agricultural opportunities particularly when combined with a variety of temperature zones. This enabled year-round agriculture with some manipulation of the landscape, such as terracing on mountainsides or the creation of chinampas in the lakes. These modifications were one of the ways that the Aztecs were able to sustain such a large population.

Plants and animals were obviously symbols to the Aztecs. There was the eagle and jaguar society that only allowed in the most prestigious and commanding warriors. Gods had animal affiliates, such as Huitzilopochtli’s association with the hummingbird (his name translates to “hummingbird warrior”) or Quetzalcoatl’s association with the feathered serpent, a recurring character throughout Mesoamerican mythology. Snakes could be understood as fertility symbols. Monkeys were associated with the god of dance and music, Xochipilli. The cactus was an imperial marker. Each human had a nahualli, or an animal affiliate with which their spirit could be associated. There is no doubt that plants and animals had a strong cosmomagical meaning in the lives of the Aztecs.

They also had an everyday meaning. Many plants and animals had a dual existence: a symbol and a part of everyday life. Dogs were one of two animal domesticates and served as companions and food as well as guides in the afterlife. Frogs were fertility symbols, part of the ecosystem of the lakes, and source of protein. Maize was the single most common agricultural crop and also the material the gods used to create a failed version of man under an earlier sun. The cactus was a boundary marker for villages as farms as well as an imperial symbol. Grasshoppers could become locusts and swarm, destroying an entire growing season. We also see discussion and representation of many other plants and animals of which there are no known double meaning: fleas, chía, amaranth, and turkeys to name just a few.

How do we know anything about the flora and fauna that surrounded the Aztecs and its meaning? We know some of it through archaeology, particularly what was found at the site of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. Archaeologists uncovered a large number of animal remains and discovered evidence of plant deposits (often as pollen remants.) They have also excavated large plant and animal sculptures both in the Templo Mayor and in the region at large. These intermediate- to large-sized stone sculptures are incredibly detailed but also provide only a schematic rendering of some plants and animals. Some sculptures include a dog, a feathered coyote, a frog, and more renderings of serpents than you can count.

Like anything involving the Aztecs, a large quantity of our knowledge comes from a post-conquest source, particularly from a Spanish Franciscan missionary named Bernardino de Sahagún who lived in New Spain right after the conquest. He utilized a series of native informants to provide him with information about native life. He eventually compiled the answers, with his edits and annotations and some accompanying illustrations, into a 16-volume set entitled The Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. The lengthiest book is Book 11, Earthly Things, which describes more about plants, animals, and the natural world than you can even imagine. Of course, because Sahagún was asking the questions and indigenous inhabitants in the Basin of Mexico may have tailored their answers to better suit a missionary, it is hard to say that it’s completely accurate. Even still, it is one of the most extensive resources on the 16th-century natural world that resonates with modern-day readers.

Pairing The Florentine Codex with other colonial-period sources, archaeological evidence, and visual culture from the Aztec period allows us to have some understanding of their relationships to plants and animals. As time goes on, we will continue to learn more about the role of plants and animals in everyday life as well as in Aztec cosmology.

Picture sources:-
• All photos by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
• Image from the Florentine Codex scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994

Cuauhtli

An ode to Tenochtitlan (a Mexica limerick):-
By the light of the moon-rabbit Tochtli
They searched day and night for a Nochtli
Growing out of a stone
Where an eagle had flown
Commanded by Huitzilopochtli.

Comments (4)

N

Naya

9th Dec 2017

Hi, I was wondering what plant and animal life was native to the region?

M

Mexicolore

A huge question! We suggest you consult, for starters, the entries on Fauna and Flora in Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America - an Encyclopaedia edited by Susan Toby Evans and David L. Webster (2009). There’s a great long table on ‘Taxonomy of Important Mexican and Central American Fauna’ for you to digest...

D

Darién

5th Sep 2012

Thanks a lot! :D
Well it’s a simple question, really. Reading the description of the itzcuintepoztli I have trouble to believe its an actual dog, not so much because of its weird appearance but rather because of its reported behavior. What’s with the “howls to attract and kill other dogs” thing? It sounds a lot like the crocotta of Roman myth. I’ve never heard of any Mexican animal that uses this sort of aggressive mimicry, except perhaps for the margay (a wild cat) which doesn´t look anything like the itzcuintepoztli. So my question is, has this creature been identified, even tentatively? Where can I find more info about it? (I searched Google but most sources seem to mix the itzcuintepoztli with the techichi and other supossed breeds...)

M

Mexicolore

Good question. OK, leave this with us for a while...
In fact we’ve asked a recognised expert on pre-Hispanic dogs, Dody Fugate, to write an article for us on this subject. Bear with us!

D

Darién

5th Sep 2012

Hey! Me again, thanks for your reply! Can´t wait to read more. : I have a question about the itzcuintepoztli but I don´t know if this is the right place to ask, or who could give me an answer...?

M

Mexicolore

Fire away! If we can’t answer your question we’ll always try and find someone who can...
Congratulations on your superb English, BTW!

D

Darién

4th Sep 2012

Hi! I’m Mexican and just discovered your website. Ironic that I’ve learned more from it than from the History books at school! However, as awesome as all of your sections are, I find that there are some important creatures sorely missing from the flora and fauna section. Why not dedicate a page to the jaguar, which was so important to all Mesoamerican cultures? Or to the often neglected Mexican wolf- not the same as the coyote!- which was known as cuetlachtli and whose remains have recently been identified from Aztec tombs? I personally believe some Mesoamerican statues often labelled as “coyotes” are actually wolves, as they were much more abundant- and feared!- back then. Or the mysterious cuetlamiztli, the wolf-cougar, an animal mentioned by Bernal del Castillo and linked in recent times to the “cryptid” known as the onza?
Anyways, great site! :

M

Mexicolore

Thanks for your comments. We’re getting there! We are slowly adding to this section all the time, mainly thanks to Renee (see above). We’re certainly aware of the gaping gaps in content, but please bear with us...
We’re about (summer 2013) to upload a great new article on the jaguar...!

Introduction

Renee McGarry, expert on Aztec flora and fauna

More Flora and Fauna