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Emissaries from the skies
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| June 24, 2002. |
In various ancient societies, it
was believed that there existed a close relationship
between birds and humans, due to simple fact that birds
can walk anywhere on two legs like we do. Truth is that
although most people may not pay attention to the presence
of birds around them, birds were considered to be emissaries
of divine messages because they had the ability to move
between the sky -the realm of the gods- and the earth,
the home of mere mortals.
Some of those emissaries are represented
by the smallest and most fascinating members of the
group: the hummingbirds. There are over 300 species
that live only on the American continent (in Mexico,
there are between 50 and 60 species), and the European
Conquistadors were fascinated by their presence when
they stepped onto the New World. Hummingbirds can be
so small that they can be mistaken for insects, like
in the case of the bee hummingbird that weighs less
than 2 grams and barely measures 5 or 6 centimeters
in length (about 2").
In ancient Mexico, hummingbirds were
associated with beliefs and traditions. For example,
the Aztec god of war named Huitzilopochtli (the left-handed
hummingbird) was related to this bird because like the
god, despite its small size, it would valiantly and
bravely confront animals hundreds of times larger than
itself, like rapacious birds and mammals.
Aztecs believed that when warriors
died on the battlefield or sacrificial stones, they
went on to a paradise presided by the sun where their
spirits would turn into hummingbirds that would then
return to earth. Maybe this belief originated by watching
the phenomenon known as nocturnal torpor or torpid state,
a sort of hibernation when hummingbirds lower their
vital signs to the bare minimum in order to reduce their
nocturnal food requirements, a situation the ancients
interpreted as a rebirth from death, because when the
sun would reheat the hummingbirds, these would "revive"
before their very eyes. Thus, the Aztecs came to believe
that these birds could not die. In Mayan teachings,
the hummingbird is connected to the Black Sun and the
Fifth World, and in Native American animal medicine,
it is the symbol for joy.
This so-called nocturnal torpor is
an essential mechanism that enables the hummingbird
to continue living and to rest. When awake and active,
it flaps its wings at over 80 beats per minute, breathing
in 250 times per minute while its heart beats 1,400
times per minute. That degree of energy consumption
requires it to consume half of its body weight in sugar,
every day, constantly, something that would be equivalent
to an average man eating 250 kilos (550 lbs.) of sausages
in one day.
To fulfill their daily nutritional
requirements, these birds must visit at least 60 flowers
from which they will extract the nectar with their long,
fine beaks that form a sort of straw with the tongue.
With the energy provided by the sugar, a hummingbird
can reach speeds of nearly 75 km/h, i.e. 12 times its
body length per second, equivalent to a cheetah running
at top speed. If a human being were to expend energy
at the same rate as a hummingbird, his body temperature
would rise to 399oC and he would burn up in flames.
The large volume of nectar hummingbirds
get from plants is not free. In exchange, the plants
need to be pollinated. With each sip of sugar solution,
the hummingbird receives a dose of pollen which it transports
to another flower to increase the plant's potential
for reproduction. In fact, there are plants that have
modified the structure and morphology of their flowers
so that a single type of hummingbird may pollinate it.
The bird must remember which flowers it has visited
and return to them after a certain time. If it returns
too quickly, the plant will not have completely replaced
the nectar and the bird will not receive all the energy
it needs to compensate for what it has invested in the
flight. On the other hand, if it takes too long in returning,
another may come and withdraw the nectar.
In Mexico, according to official
norms approved in 2001, there are actually 20 species
of hummingbirds deemed to be in danger to some degree,
i.e.: between 33% and 40% of the species living in the
country. For the most part, the danger stems from the
fact that their natural environment is being destroyed.
Today, there are no specific programs in place for the
protection of this group of birds in Mexico although
various national institutions are in the process of
implementing certain measures that they hope will contribute
to the tiny birds' protection.
Hummingbirds have also been attributed
magical powers. Dating back to the XVIIth Century, there
are reports of hummingbirds being used to attract both
men and women to love. The practice consisted in drying
the bird in salt, taking great care not to damage its
feathers as that is where its magical powers purportedly
lay. These amulets were worn on symbolically erotic
parts of the human body.
Hummingbirds were also exploited
as fashion items. In the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries,
Europe imported a great number of those animals so they
may adorn the hats of ladies of high society. It was
calculated that the mid-1800's, hundreds of thousands
of hummingbirds had been sacrificed to meet the demand.
By 1880, in one single month, 12,000 hummingbird skins
were registered as having been sold in London alone.
Luckily, this fashion trend declined with time.
There is no doubt that in order to
enjoy the beauty and splendor of hummingbirds, there
is nothing like watching them hovering over a flower
- free.
cupul@pvmirror.com
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