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Pelusteriano333 karma

Pelusteriano128 karma

Not OP but just chirping by to share some Mexican culture.

Mayan culture

After the gods created Earth and assigned a job for every object and being, they noticed there wasn't anything in charge of taking messages and good wishes from one place to another.

They were out of materials, like clay and corn, to make a new being, so they opted to take a jade stone and built an arrowhead. When the stone was ready, they imbibed it with life with their divine breath. The tiny arrow flew away, carrying with it the messages from the gods and the good wishes of humans.

Nowadays it is considered a good omen to see a hummingbird, because it means someone sent you good wishes. If you want to send a good wish to someone, you don't have to catch the bird, just let it get close to your head and whisper your wish, it'll take it to its destination.

Aztec culture

The hummingbird doesn't have its own myth but it participates in two major events.

The aztecs were brought to Aztlán, the promised land, by a hummingbird who was sent by the gods to guide their people.

While sweeping her house, Coatlicue, goddess of fertility, found a hummingbird feather, its beauty captivated her, so she decided to keep it under her bossom. She got impregnated by the feather, bringing Huitzilopochtli, god of sun and war, to the world.

Due the aggressive nature of male hummingbirds when protecting their nest, hummingbirds were considered to be a strength and vigour figure. Aztec warriors used accessories to emulate the appearance of hummingbirds and it was even believed that fallen Aztec warriors revived as hummingbirds.

Pelusteriano62 karma

Hi, /u/Game_Blouses11!

Children are often see firefighters as heroes. Who do you see as hero?

Pelusteriano34 karma

To expand on this, most of hummingbirds tend to be generalists, they thrive on several species instead of a single or a few ones. This is related to their fast metabolism which requires them to eat several times their weight in nectar to stay alive.

It's a better bet for them to have a diverse set of flowers that are available all over the year than a single species that will only be available for a few weeks or months.

The flowers they visit are often bright and warm coloured (pink, violet, red, orange) with a tubular trumped-like shape, like this one. The trumpet-like floral structure and the hummingbird's beak shape its actually an example of co-evolution (traits that evolved together on two species), only hummingbirds are able to reach the nectar at the bottom of those flowers. The birds receive an energy packed meal and in exchange they provide the service of pollination. A win-win.