The Great Day of His Wrath (1853), Artist: John Martin

If you are reading this post then the world hasn’t ended…but, you probably already knew it wasn’t going to end.

Don’t look so disappointed. Yes, the human race regrettably has always had a collective death wish, eagerly awaiting the promise of the end of times since the beginning of times. Or have we? Ironically, it was the Maya, the ancient civilization that gave us such a precise date by which to count down to our own demise: December 21, 2012, that Mayan archeologist William Saturno explains looked for evidence that life goes on:

“We keep looking for endings. The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change. It’s an entirely different mindset.”

Mayan cosmology is more concerned about looking for assurances of continued life on earth, not death. So be comforted on this day – a day like any other – and use it to reflect on the greater value that life seems to take on in the face of our imminent death.

Besides a hopeful view of the future, the Maya had many beliefs worth adopting. Another foreign notion to our fast-paced-commerce-driven society is the worship of nature and animals as divine gods. The Mayans had a great reverence for nature which might explain why their entire religious pantheon is made up of deities that are either animals or humans with anthropomorphic features. They believed in worshiping life in its diverse manifestations.

Book of the Week

To honor this ancient civilization’s deep reverence for biodiversity we have chosen a singularly unique study undertaken by Alfred M. Tozzer and Glover M. Allen, for this week’s book of the week:

Animal Figures in the Maya Codices (1910)

Mr. Tozzer is one of the most famous American Mayanists to date and Mr. Glover was a zoologist specializing in Mesoamerican species at the turn of the last century. Together, the duo was determined to match Mayan hieroglyphic characters, glyphs and artwork depicting Mayan gods to modern species analogues. They were fairly successful in identifying the specific species that the Maya would come in contact with and thus idealize as religious deities.

Gilbert Borrego, our Flickr Guru, has scoured the BHL in search of Meso-american species and put together a 58 plate Flickr Collection dedicated to Mayan plant and animal life. We have matched these illustrations with the respective Mayan hieroglyphs present in Tozzer and Allen’s work. Your job is to examine the glyphs and see if you see any resemblance between the Mayan art and their species counterparts.

Jaguar (Panthera onca)

The jaguar a predatory animal symbolized strength, courage, associated with great Mayan warriors. Some scholars have also purported that the beautiful animal is the ruler of the Underworld.

Blue Macaw (Ara militaris)

According to Tozzer and Glover, the  Macaw was one of the lightning beasts associated with the worship of fire and the sun. Their brilliant blue feathers were often used in ceremonial headdresses.

Yucatan Screech Owl or Moan-Bird (Otus choliba thompsoni)

The owl is a symbol of death and destruction and is regarded as the Moon or Night God. The Owl resides in the  mythological “House of Drought,” unlike the serpent which occupies the “House of Rain”  therefore symbolizing life.<

Serpent (Boidae)

The serpent was extremely important for it symbolized the live-giving force rain, and thus regulated the annual yield of  crops. It is most likely that this association was made because snakes show themselves in large numbers before and after rainfall.

King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa)

Scholars have speculated that the King Vulture symbolizes power as well as sacrifice. According to Mayan mythology ‘lesser’ Vultures would not eat until the King came down and plucked out the eyeballs and entrails of the dead.

Coppery-tailed Trogon aka The Quetzal (Pharomacrus mocinno)

The Quetzal, meaning ‘large brilliant tail feather’, is a rare bird found in certain parts of Southern Mexico. Its brilliant green color and particularly long tail feathers made it a sacred bird to the Mayans that was reserved for use in headdresses of rulers. The bird is associated with the mythical hero Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god, whom the Mayans mistook conquistador Hernán Cortés for. According to an account by Alexander von Humboldt, the Mayans were impatiently awaiting the return of this god because he would bring a time of great peace with him. Read more about that here.

Clearly, Mayans were more concerned with the cycle of life rather than the end of the world as we know it. In the spirit of their great culture, take the time to celebrate your continued life today. And if for some reason you were in a panic about the world ending, then calm yourself and visit NASA’s 2012 de-bunked website.You’ll surely feel better.

We hope you enjoyed this post. Interested in guest-blogging for BHL? We’d love that! Natural history, biodiversity and conservation topics are especially welcomed. Email us your ideas at [email protected]

cordiller (cor·dil·le·ra); a noun.

Definition of cordillera : a system or group of parallel mountain ranges together with the intervening plateaus and other features, especially in the Andes or the Rockies.

Origin: early 18th century: from Spanish, from cordilla, diminutive of cuerda ‘cord’, from Latin chorda (see cord). (Oxford English Dictionary)

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Cordilleras!

We saved something special for you for our final Hispanic Heritage Month blog installment. Today, we would like to bring your attention specifically to two Cordilleras found in Ecuador: the Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Oriental which were extensively investigated by Alexander von Humboldt on his six-year expedition through Meso and South America. In this week’s Book of the Week, Humboldt provides us with the very first eye-witness account of some of the highest peaks found in the Andes and minutely describes their geology in: “Researches concerning the institutions & monuments of the ancient inhabitants of America : with descriptions & views of some of the most striking scenes in the Cordilleras!” Despite the long title, this two volume tome is actually just an excerpt from Humboldt’s much more voluminous 30 volume work, Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent that he produced after his expedition.

Routing Humboldt and Bonpland’s S. America Expedition

A young Humboldt

Having the fortune of receiving a substantial inheritance following the sad event of his mother’s death, Humboldt quickly opted for a career change. Seemingly overnight, he leapt from Government Mines Inspector to Greatest Explorer the World had ever seen! Leaving the Old World behind for the very first time, he was accompanied Aimé Bonpland, a botanist who over the course of the next six years, from 1799-1805, would collect over 60,000 plants on their expedition to a largely unobserved continent and the species that they brought back were mostly unknown to Europe at the time. While Aimé focused on his field of expertise, Alexander preferred to dabble. Remembered as one of the last great scientific generalists, he believed “that no organism or phenomenon could be fully understood in isolation. Living things, the objects of biological study, had to be considered in conjunction with data from other fields of research such as meteorology and geology.”  Therefore, Humboldt bounces along through his text touching on a myriad of topics, admitting no attempt at organization in his book. And remarkably the lack of organization and vacillations between linguistics, mythology, botany, oceanography, archeology, climatology and comparative religion all somehow come together. However, it should be noted that as much as Humboldt meanders about in this week’s book of the week he always comes back to his most beloved subject– geology. At the time, geology was an emerging field of science and he should be remembered as a primary contributor to its development into a modern field of study.

Throughout what might be best called a travel narrative or informal conversation with the reader, written largely in first person, Humboldt conducts a comparative analysis on his eclectic mix of chosen topics. He seems to be in constant search for the connecting thread that will illuminate an underlying unity in nature. While some critics find this propensity for long-winded unification theories unscientific, one must remember that during the backdrop of the time providing analogues to known phenomena would certainly help the reader to better understand the natural phenomena in this new and largely undiscovered world. Such is the case with these hieroglyphic paintings which Humboldt provides the reader a lengthy analysis, a treatise almost, on comparative mythology and linguistics:

Fig. 1: Days in the Mexican Almanac

Fig 2: The Epochs of Nature According to Aztec Mythology

Humboldt compares these paintings with the writing systems of the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Hebrews and many other ancient languages. Of the content in fig 2., he compares the epochs of natural destructive cycles in Aztec mythology with the notions of a Kalpa and Yuga found in Hinduism which are described at length here. A seriously fascinating read! The Aztec culture was clearly one very imbued with the sanctity of nature. These were a people who were impatiently awaiting the return of their god Quetzalcoatl because he brought with him a time in which  “all animals, and even men, lived in peace; the earth brought forth, without culture, the most fruitful harvests ; and the air was filled with a multitude of birds, which were admired for their song, and the beauty of their plumage.” One might see why Montezuma would easily mistake Cortez for Quetzalcoatl. It was simply a case of wishful thinking.

Moving on to the crux of this book, interested in reading some of the very first observances of the best known peaks in the Andes? Humboldt delivers:

The Two Mightiest Peaks of Humboldt’s Cordilleras! Okay Three?

Volcano of Cotopaxi:  This volcano towers at 19,347 feet. Since 1738, Cotopaxi has erupted more than 50 times. It is the second most active volcano in the world. Humboldt, the first European to climb Cotopaxi is lucky to have observed it and lived to tell the tale and he seemed to be clearly aware of this fact for, at the time of this sketching of Cotopaxi, Humboldt wrote this: “The colossal volcano of Cotopaxi, the pyramidal peaks of Ilinissa, and the Nevado de Quelendanna, open here at once on the spectator, and in dreadful proximity. This is one of the most majestic and most awful views I ever beheld in either hemisphere.”

Pyramid of Cholula: Not necessarily a natural “peak” per se, the pyramid that sits at the site of the holy city of Cholula is home to the greatest, most ancient monuments of the Aztec people. The pyramid is referred to by locals as the mountain made by the hand of man (monte hecho a manos). From a distance it looks like a natural hill covered with vegetation. One can see why Humboldt would be intrigued.

Mount Chimborazo: At 20,564 ft, Chimborazo is the highest mountain in Ecuador, the highest peak in close proximity to the equator and it is the furthest point from the Earth’s center. (This is due to the oblate spheroid shape of the Earth.) Bonpland and Humboldt attempted to reach the peak of Chimborazo but, did not reach the summit. Atop Chimborazo sits a layer of permafrost which adds to its majestic beauty. Spotting the behemoth in the distance, Humboldt writes “we see Chimborazo appear like a cloud at the horizon; it detaches itself from the neighbouring summits, and towers over the whole chain of the Andes, like that majestic dome, produced by the genius of Michael Angelo, over the antique monuments, which surround the Capitol.”

The wealth of knowledge, historical importance, and richness of travel description in this book should not be overlooked. Everyone with any curiosity about our natural world should read Humboldt. Geologists especially, should not miss today’s book of the week. It’s a true gem.

All these magnificent plates from Humboldt’s expedition are available on Flickr, plus more. Also,make sure to check the Twitter, Facebook and Flickr for more content celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month!

We hope you enjoyed this post. Interested in guest-blogging for BHL? We’d love that! Natural history, biodiversity and conservation topics are especially welcomed. Email us your ideas at [email protected].

This week, while browsing our Flickr site (which, by the way, has over 15,900 images!), we stumbled across the book Field Book of Giant Fishes (1949), by J.R. Norman and F.C. Fraser, and were intrigued. What exactly was a giant fish by this book’s standards, and what would we find when we delved into the pages of this enigmatic title?

To our delight, we found some surprising species featured within this volume. Species that make you think, “Maybe we aren’t too far off from the dinosaurs.” Some even include creatures that might be responsible for many of the “sea monster” claims sailors have made over the years. Plus, as is always a bonus for us, the descriptions were accompanied by lovely illustrations (by W.P.C. Tenison) of the mighty fish that call our oceans home today. We thought this title offered a great opportunity to showcase some of these aquatic marvels. So, without further ado…

1) Giant Oar-Fish, also known as the King of Herrings. This critter is the world’s longest bony fish, reaching up to at least 11 meters (unconfirmed reports of 17 meters exist!) and weighing upwards of 300 kg! Living 300-1000 meters below the ocean’s surface, it is a rarely-seen deep sea wonder. Nevertheless, many scientists believe that this colossal beast may be responsible for many of the strange sea monster sightings reported throughout the years.

Despite the scarcity of sightings, there are several documented encounters with this species:

• On Dec. 10, 2010, a live specimen measuring 4 meters was caught off the Sinaloan coast of Mexico. One of the fisherman who caught it cautioned that “it might be the devil” and “feared it might swallow them.”
• On April 6, 2011, a 3.5 meter Giant Oar-Fish was found off of the east coast of Taiwan. It is believed that the creature surfaced as a result of the tsunami that hit Japan in March. Thus, it was given the nickname “Earthquake Fish.”
• And finally, in 1996, a 7-meter specimen was caught off of the coast of California. Pictured below is a team of Navy SEALs displaying the beast. (Image from pg. 20, All Hands)

2) Blue Whale. So, everyone’s familiar with the Blue Whale – the largest animal on the face of the planet, and, for that matter, the largest animal known to have ever existed. (Take that, Dinosaurs!). At 30 meters long and 180 metrics tons, this creature is truly a behemoth. However, despite its size, the Blue Whale’s diet consists completely of small crustaceans called krill.

Some very interesting facts about the Blue Whale:

• It’s tongue weighs as much as an elephant (which, incidentally, is the largest living land mammal)
• When fully expanded, a Blue Whale’s mouth is large enough to hold 90 metrics tons of food and water
• Despite this large mouth, the Whale’s throat is so small that it cannot swallow anything larger than a beach ball
• At birth, Blue Whales weigh 6,000 lbs – the weight of a full-grown hippopotamus – and drink an average of 100 gallons of milk every day
• Blue Whale calves gain as much as 200 lbs every day
• A Blue Whale’s Heart weighs 1,300 lbs.

3) Narwhal. Although not a mammoth in proportions, this sea critter nevertheless has many links to mythological associations. For obvious reasons, it is known as the “sea unicorn,” and Medieval Europeans believed that these “unicorn” horns possessed magical powers, such as the ability to cure poison and melancholia. The Inuit people believe the Narwhal tusk came about when “a women with a harpoon rope tied around her waist was dragged into the ocean after the harpoon had struck a large narwhal. She was transformed into a Narwhal herself, and her hair, which she was wearing in a twisted knot, became the characteristic spiral Narwhal tusk.”

• The Narwhal is most closely related to the Beluga Whale, and together they make up the only two living species of the Monodontidae family
• Narwhals are a strictly Arctic species, and rarely venture below 65 degrees North latitude
• The Narwhal’s name comes from the Old Norse word “nár,” which means “corpse.” It was given this name due to its grayish pigmentation, which gave it the appearance of a drowned sailor.
• A male Narwhal’s tusk can grow as long as 3 meters and weigh up to 22 lbs. About 1 in 500 male Narwhals grows a second tusk.
• In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth was given a carved and bejeweled Narwhal tusk worth £10,000 – the cost of, in those times, an entire castle!
• The Narwhal is one of two possible explanations for the “giant sea phenomenon” described by Jules Verne in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. (The other possibility? A man-made vessel. We like the Narwhal option better!)

We hope you’ve enjoyed these fun facts about some surprising creatures from the sea. Don’t forget that these are only a few of the animals pictured in our book of the week, Field Book of Giant Fishes (1949), by J.R. Norman and F.C. Fraser. The color illustrations from this book can be found on our Flickr site, but there are also dozens of smaller, ink drawings within the actual text, so be sure to check out the book in BHL as well!And remember, it might not be the age of the dinosaurs, but we’ve still got some mammoths living among us!