Fish, crocodiles and waterbirds are the fauna most often associated with freshwater scenes in Classic Maya art. Jaguars love to swim and have water lilies decorating their heads in a Late Classic Codex Style painting. Marine shells were popular sources of jewelry for the Maya and shells are common in the murals of Cacaxtla. Marine scenes are also known from murals of Chichen Itza but our present research is on freshwater ecosystems, primarily in Peten, Guatemala.
What in the world does this photo show? If you CLICK, you will see what we found as we hiked through this savanna on April 1, 2022 as part of our 5-year project of coordination and cooperation with CONAP to study the flora, fauna, and biodiverse ecosystems of the RBM.
PNLT Savanna #13, far southeast part of Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre, Reserva de la Biosfera Maya (RBM), Peten. Photo by Edwin Solares, FLAAR Photo Archive.
You can see LOTS of previously undocumented, previously unexplored savanna wetlands of the RBM in this week’s 36 Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala
The presentation on plants, animals and biodiverse ecosystems of Nicholas Hellmuth is this Thursday, July 20, 2023, Los ecosistemas de humedales actuales también estaban al alcance de los mayas del Periodo Clásico, 11:15 to 11:45am.
If you prefer this lecture in English, we have a 1-hour edition, all full color, to show you parts of the “jungle” that you don’t often see. He has lectured over many decades around the world: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, across USA and Canada, UK and across EU, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, South Africa, Japan, China, Taiwan and other countries. These lectures are also available via ZOOM.
This lecture is based on over 50-years of in-person field trips and exploration of wetland ecosystems of Mesoamerica, especially in Guatemala and Mexico. The photos are mostly from our recent years of our continuing 5-year project of coordination and cooperation with CONAP to study flora, fauna, and biodiverse ecosystems in the 21,600 square kilometers of the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya.
Since vultures are occasionally pictured in Classic Maya art, we like to photograph vultures when we see them along the roads. So here is a quick snapshot.
Normally we see black vultures eating an animal that has been run over on the highway. But today (June 22, 2023) we saw these vultures at a waterhole near the highway.
PNYNN park ranger Daniel Moises Perez Diaz, known as Teco, kindly send several videos of a tapir that he saw in the “Rio” Holmul near Nakum. I put it as “Rio” since most of the year it is just a series of pools of water. They only connect and start to flow if there is a really wet rainy season.
Teco has assisted the projects of FLAAR for several years. We provide him a camera, mobile phone also with camera, and cover the cost of monthly Internet so he can send key photos and videos to us.
It helps when a project on flora, fauna, ecosystems or any other related topic works together with local people in Peten.
In the many decades in wetland areas of Guatemala I have never had the luck to see a tapir in the wild. Thus I initiated getting to know the tapirs in the Auto Safari Chapin.
In addition to doing biological and ecological research, we at FLAAR (USA) and FLAAR Mesoamerica (Guatemala) also have a division for preparing books and posts on flora and fauna and ecosystems for school children in Guatemala.
At the bottom is the front cover of our MayanToons post about fun facts of the tapir.
Over the past years the aquatic reptiles in Classic Maya art have sometimes been called caiman or called alligator. Fortunately, other archaeologists and iconographers correctly call the Maya reptiles a crocodile. The biology and iconography team at FLAAR Mesoamerica are preparing a PowerPoint presentation to show that it is usually crocodiles that are pictured in the pre-Columbian art of the Maya, Olmec, and Aztec. Any area near the Pacific Coast, such as Oaxaca, would have also had caiman available (in Mexico and in Guatemala). But the Classic Maya of the Maya Lowlands knew Crocodylus moreletii and those near the Caribbean would have also known Crocodylus acutus.
The purpose of the lecture is to assist epigraphers, iconographers, zooarchaeologists and archaeologists to see where each genus and each species was available to the Olmec, Maya, and other civilizations of Mesoamerica thousands of years ago. It is understandable that we professors who grew up in the USA think primarily about alligators; and as students we learned about the Nile crocodile and other crocodiles of Africa. So the in-person presentation on July 27, 2023 is to show the actual crocodiles of the Maya lowlands, and the caiman inland from the Pacific Ocean coast.
These flamingos are usually more pink; but here in Parque Zoológico La Aurora they are more red. One reason is that they are in the water areas of this zoo all year long. In their native habitat of Yucatan they in the Maya Lowlands. La Aurora Zoo is at 1,500 meters above sea level.
I can still remember over 30 years ago having a boat ride across the lagoons of the Yucatan peninsula where you see thousands of these pink flamingos, Phoenicopterus ruber.
Wetlands are areas that maintain flood conditions for long periods of time. These sites are the habitat of a large number of flora and fauna species. These areas are also home to Crocodylus moreletii, commonly called the Petenero Crocodile or Swamp Crocodile.
Description of the species
This species is small compared to other species of crocodiles. There is a marked sexual dimorphism in the species because the males are larger than the females, reaching up to 3 meters in length, the longest being 4.3 m. They are dark gray or brown in color, with dark bands and spots around the entire body. Juveniles can become bright yellow with some dark bands.
This crocodile is typical of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Belize and northern Guatemala in the departments of Petén and Alta Verapaz.
Biology
These animals are at the top of the food chain, in the habitats where they are found. They feed on a wide variety of prey. The hatchlings feed on insects and small fish. As they grow, the range of prey widens, coming to hunt larger animals such as birds and medium-sized mammals. They capture their prey through their jaws, once the prey is caught they are taken to the water where the crocodiles drown them and then dismember them in order to eat them.
The breeding season is during the summer in the months of April and June, the nests are made before the rainy season. The mother builds her mound three meters wide and one meter high, they are found quite often near water. The females are in charge of caring for the nest until the eggs hatch. They can lay 20 to 45 eggs per clutch. Once they hatch, the young are protected by both their mother and father, until they are old enough to care for themselves.
The males of this species are quite territorial and there are usually disputes over territory, this can lead to terrible injuries in the specimens. These can cause superficial injuries, such as loss of limbs and even loss of sight. The dorsal and ventral surfaces of the snout are dotted with glands and sensory organs, so if they lose sight, crocodiles are able to continue capturing prey and feeding.
Importance
Crocodylus moreletii is an important species within the country's wetlands and an endangered species due to the loss of its habitat in the Guatemalan area. Being one of the largest reptile species that inhabits the territory of Guatemala. Crocodiles promote species richness, since they control different populations of mammals and birds, add nutrients to the aquatic environment, and maintain open flows between bodies of water, through their displacement, construction of caves, and excavations that allow the creation of ponds in environments that are subjected to prolonged periods of drought.
Bibliography
Campbell, J.A.
1998
“Amphibians and Reptiles of Northern Guatemala, the Yucatan, and Belize”. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.
Lee. J.C.
2000
“A field guide to the Amphibians and reptiles of the Maya World. The Lowlands of Mexico, Northern Guatema la, and Belize”. Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press
Written by Mario Rivera Yurrita Edited by Victor Mendoza & Vivian Hurtado
