Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya

 

 

 

From the back cover...

By Victoria Schlesinger, introduction by Carlos Galindo-Leal, illustrated by Juan C. Chab-Medina, University of Texas Press, 2002.

A growing interest in all things Maya brings an increasing number of visitors to prehistoric Maya ruins and contemporary Maya communities in Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the southern areas of Chiapas and Tabasco, Mexico. For these visitors and indeed everyone with an interest in the Maya, this field guide highlights nearly 100 species of plants and animals that were significant to the ancient Maya and that continue to inhabit the Maya region today.

Drawing from the disciplines of biology, ecology, and anthropology, Victoria Schlesinger describes each plant or animal's habitat and natural history, identifying characteristics (also shown in a black-and-white drawing), and cultural significance to the ancient and contemporary Maya. An introductory section explains how to use the book and offers a concise overview of the history, lifeways, and cosmology of the ancient Maya. The concluding section describes the collapse of ancient Maya society and briefly traces the history of the Maya region from colonial times to the present.

"Part field guide, part book of vignettes discussing the animals and plants most commonly seen in the Maya area, this fine guide provides a fresh synthesis of anthropological and biological research that will serve as an engaging and practical resource for visitors, students, and burgeoning naturalists."

–- Paul R. Ehrlich, Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University

Reviews

"...Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya: A Guide balances on the boundary between science and tourism – providing a fascinating hodgepodge of ecological, biological, archaeological, and anthropological information ..."

– Dr. Kitty Emery, Latin American Antiquity

"It would be a rare reader who remained unmoved by the inhabitants of this biosphere, rejoicing for the survivors, but mourning the losses."

– John F. Swenson, Master Gardener, Chicago Botanic Garden

"One of the best books of the past year, this work combines the details of a scientific field guide with anthropological research. The result is outstanding."

– Ron Mader, founder of Planeta.com, Latin America ecotourism

"...an impressive synthesis of ecological and anthropological information... I find that the book is meticulously researched and accurate – the information is presented clearly and with flair."

– David Casagrande, Journal of Ecological Anthropology

Sample Essay

Rhinophrynus dorsalis

Uo Toad

Ranita boquita or Alma de Vaca (S)

Woj much (M)

Identification: The uo toad is a small, rubbery sack of a toad with beady black eyes. Its 5 to 8.8 cm long, grayish to maroon-brown body displays a smattering of orangish spots and a line running down its back; the females reach a greater size than the males. Thick webbing stretches between the toes of the back feet. Uos call a long winded "uoooooooh," especially at the beginning of the rainy season (Foster and McDiarmid 1983).

Habitat: Uo toads live in savannas and in seasonally dry forests near temporary water sources, particularly as the long months of rain commence (Lee 1996).

Range: Surviving best at a low elevation, uo toads reside in various areas from southern Texas to Costa Rica (Lee 1996).

Similar species: The uo stands as the only living member of the family Rhinophrynidae (Foster and McDiarmid 1983).

In early May, everything living lolls and droops while watching for the big rain that will bring an end to the heat of the dry season. Buried beneath the splits and cracks of the soil, the uo toads wait and call. They call a long, ascending "uoooooooh" that rises up from their mud dens through the packed earth.

The smooth skin of the uo falls like a loose dress around its shapeless body, and as it crawls, its belly brushes the ground. Uos bury and unbury themselves throughout the year. Sometimes they remain underground for a day, though it has been said that they can stay down for a month to two years. With heads facing skyward, the toads shovel out 7-15 cm deep holes, or deeper, and allow the soil to collapse back in on top of them. They dig caves bigger than themselves and inflate their baggy skin to fill in the extra space; skin melds with the outline of the den, making it difficult to pull an uo from its hole. When a paw or snout or hand comes groping in search of food, the uo excretes a white, sticky poison as its last defense. People often have an allergic reaction to the poison, but still, the uo is considered a delicacyÑand always noted for its fat (Foster and McDiarmid 1983).

Thompson mentioned that Mayas working with him during excavations treated any accidentally unearthed uos with great tenderness. The toad was strength and the co-conspirator of humans in their struggle to survive times of drought (Thompson 1970). Today, for some, the uo call acts as the heralding of the arrival of the rains (Lee 1996).

When the big rain comes, the aguadas fill and the surrounding banks become saturated. The drops seep down into the uo's den and loosen the soil. The toads begin to dig and push their way to the surface, sometimes emerging with a caked-on second skin of dry mud. As the sun sets, they crawl to the water's edge and wait, or inflate their loose skins and float out, like stray balloons, into the aguada's deeper water. The males commence their mating call and, when singing together, can be heard for kilometers (Foster and McDiarmid 1983). This is why the ancient Maya said the uos were the pets, the perambulatory musicians, or the children of Chac, the rain god.

Chac or Ah Hoyaob means the sprinklers, or urinators. They bring or take rain, and in the Maya codices are most often depicted either urinating or pouring water from bowls and gourds. Many Chac gods existed, and each embodied a different quality of thunder, lightening, or rain. The great Chacs lived at the foot of the sky, the sun's birthplace in the east, and the lesser Chacs may have lived in caves or cenotes. They were often drawn riding on the backs of serpents or marked with snake features themselves. Around ruin sites, adorning all types of structures, stone carved Chacs can easily be identified by their long curling noses (Thompson 1970).

When water becomes scarce and no drenching rain has fallen for months, the people call upon Chac by constructing an altar made of four poles. Six vines stretch overhead from its center, like the threads of a round cobweb (Freidel et al. 1993); the Chacs are the gods of the number six. Around the altar, in groups of four, nine, and thirteen sit offerings of maize prepared in any and all forms by the women (Thompson 1970). Meat and chicken are placed on the altar as well. The food is first offered to the gods and then later eaten by the people.

A h-men, the community's priest, walks counterclockwise around the altar. As he walks he burns copal, soaking the air with smoke and calling to the Otherworld. A man or boy crouches at each corner post. The h-men circles and circles the altar, talking to the spirits, sinking into a trance and passing through a door into the Otherworld called Xibalba or "the place of Awe." The surrounding men (or man) make thunder noises, booming, and shaking water from gourds onto the dry earth. The young boys at each corner pole call "uoooooooh, uoooooooh" as the uo toad does when buried in the soil and the rains soak through. Or in some areas they also chant "chachalaca, chachalaca" as the chachalaca fowl do before it rains (Thompson 1970). Although the rendition of the ceremony varies from village to village, many people in the Maya area still perform a version of this ritual today (Freidel et al. 1993).

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