Knowing More About The Mexican Wildlife

When you're thinking of striking wildlife, Mexico is just about the most fortuitous countries on the earth. The home of some of the most rare species of animals, the tropical forests of Mexico gives housing to a lot of indigenous land and marine animals. See Bird Watching Tours here.

The wildlife of Mexico includes wolves, monkeys, snakes, iguanas, tapirs and bears; all roaming around the forest night and day. Attractions in Mexico additionally incorporates exquisite aquatic scenery and even attractive coral reeves for scuba divers. Tourists and also travelers can take advantage of spending time marveling on the most splendid water animals such as sharks, turtles, whales and swordfishes. Over fifteen foot wing giant mantra rays and friendly dolphins can be seen outside the surf line of Santiago Bay as well, this appealing to numerous vacationers from around the world. See wildlife tours here.

Whales as well as other Underwater Creatures

Tourists and travelers can take an expedition to view hundreds and thousands of grey whale mothers along with their calves. In most cases, grey whales push boats. Even if this sounds alarming, this would offer you the chance to see probably the most spectacular animals of the Mexican wildlife. You can also be ready to witness a horde of blue whales in Mexico. Some other exciting species are humpbacks, killer whales, bottlenose dolphins, seals, and sea lions. Being the feeding ground of Mexico's wildlife, tourists can snorkel through the lagoons and nearby seas and see delightful species of fresh water as well as marine animals which include elephant seals, rare turtles, and fur seals. For an interesting side dish, the waters around the Riviera Maya offer breathtaking whale shark encounters.

Bird Watching

The Mexican wildlife features various birds as well as flying insects. Many visitors are astonished at the kinds of butterflies which cruise over the open water. Bird watchers throughout the world will have their eyes craving over the various kinds of migratory birds which travels to the country. Mexico's wildlife contains a large number of bird species including humming birds, toucans, parrots and flamingos. These birds make stunning melodies in the wild, rewarding you with a nice background music while you stroll throughout the forest and providing you with an idea on where to look on your bird watching tour. In the incomparable greenery of Mexico, a number of the rarest birds can be found such as the elusive quetzal, a prized bird having superb feathers.

In most states of Mexico, oak and pine trees can be found in large quantity-- an indication of Mexico's rich and thriving flora. Among other kinds of plants to be found in the country comprise zapote, mahogany, rosewood, cacao, ebony, and also ceiba; most of these plants serve as food for Mexico's animal wildlife. Exotic flowers also bloom in the country's vibrant forests. And fortunately, tourists can obtain a number of kinds of these flowers from local shops and keep them in their own garden-- one of the best souvenirs one can have from Mexico. Yet when choosing to do this, make sure that the flowers can be legally brought outside of the country. Laws on the preservation of the Mexican wildlife may minimize the exportation and also picking of wild plants from their natural habitat.

In the semi-desert plateau of Mexico dwells precarious predators like iguanas and also pit vipers along with scorpions and rodents. Many Mexican Safari tours can give you the opportunity to see these animals in their natural habitat. The most threatening animals of the Mexican wildlife are mouflons and pumas. While they may be scary enough to cause you to keep your distance, experiencing these creatures in close proximity is a memory which will last an eternity.

How The Long And Short Count Of The Mayan Calendar Originated

The Mayan civilization was very advanced for its time, and had remarkable knowledge of astronomy, geometry and last of all - methods to determine the time. Numerous experts in the fields of astronomy, mathematics as well as other sciences discover the way the Maya utilized to compute periods of time unique. See Chichen itza tour here.

The requirements of their calendar system were similar to other calendar systems seen in the same part of the world by other Mesoamerican civilizations, dating as far back in time as the fifth century BC. See tikal tour here.

The initial style of the Mayan calendar was only accustomed to exhibit the thought of time as past, present and future. The Maya understood really well that time is linear and they needed an approach to tell if one incident had took place just before another. This standard idea speedily evolved into a lot more difficult, sophisticated and highly accurate calendar system, that individuals find fascinating to this day.

Long and Short Count

You will find two major parts in the Mayan calendar which are employed to determine and look at the time - the Long Count and the Short Count. Both the Long Count as well as the Short Count have a particular date as a starting point - August 11, 3114 BC when we're making use of the present Gregorian calendar to specify it, and September 6, 3114 BC if perhaps we're utilizing the Julian calendar.

The Short Count was utilized for calculating short time periods. It was made up of 260 days, divided into 13 periods (20 days each). This way of counting the time remains used in some areas of Guatemala by ancestors and forefathers of the Mesoamerican civilizations.

The Long Count was used generally for computing longer intervals and events that took place a long time ago, or will occur very far into the future. This calendar system was also employed for the inscription of calendar dates.

The cycle of the Long Count is independent of the solar year, mainly because the Maya employed the vigesimal (base 20) instead of the decimal (base 10) numeral system. One Long Count period following the rule above should have been equal to 400 days, but the Maya permitted an exception to the rule and the actual Long Count period is 360 days. Although this recently formed period is close to the solar year, it is still 5 days shorter. It is not certain why the Maya made a decision to transform their calendar slightly, but the fact that they did so illustrates how adequately they understood and observed the sky and the placement of the stars in it.

The Moon and Venus also portrayed an extremely important function in the calendar of the ancient Maya, and they have separate Long Count inscriptions to symbolize the lunar cycles and a Venus cycle.

One Venus cycle was 584 days long, and events just like warfare and conquests were timed to equal particular stages of this cycle. Scientists these days really find the fact that the Maya were able to estimate the Venus cycle very accurately; showing terrific observation along with astronomy skills and expertise in how the planets move in the sky.

The lunar cycles in addition perform an important role, as historians have revealed. The Mayan calendar has completely different lunar cycles that are connected to animals. weather, food and deities. These series show how advanced the culture of the Mayan was in addition to how near the bond was between them and mother nature.

Overall, the Mayan calendar is an extremely complex instrument to assess the time in short or long periods. It demonstrates the Mayans fully understood the concept of time, and had a clever tactic to put an event in a period of time - past, present or future. They created an evolved and advanced calendar concept (the Long Count) along with the additional supplementary forms to the initial calendar (the Short Count). Because of this, the Mayan calendar was understandably the most sophisticated and one of a kind calendar for its time, and numerous civilizations integrated it to a certain extent or entirely throughout the following centuries.

Cozumel's Crocodile

The beautiful Cozumel island, was once a sacred place to the Maya Moon Goddess, Ix Chel, turned out to a place of refuge during the 17th century for pirates. More recently, Cozumel was a site of agriculture, the fishing a huge selection of tropical fish, and hunting crocodiles. See Cozumel Tour.

American Crocodiles, Crocodylus acutus, have taken their home in most of the fresh or brackish waters of river estuaries, coastal lagoons, mangrove swamps and wetlands. They've recently been known to occupy shallow areas such as creeks as well as ponds. Surviving all through Southern Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, some thousand of these carnivores also inhabit home in areas of southern Florida.

Safeguarded Crocs

Even with their increased adaptability to live in both salt and fresh waters, and reinforced by webbed toes for speedy travel in land and water- in the regions they're encountered, their population has really gone down. American Crocodiles, as well as those existing in Cozumel, have been hunted for their hides to supply the profitable leather trade, confronted by pollution and forced from their habitats. The later is caused by human development and also the potential incursion and inundation of wetland habitats as climate changes raise sea levels.

Under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) these reptilian creatures have been listed as endangered, while the IUCN Red list rated the simply 'Vulnerable'. In Cozumel, the reptile remains protected from illegal harassing, poaching or killing under the ESA.

Getting a closer look

With their primitive characteristics they're very easily recognizable. Their dusky, grey-green skin as well as long narrow snouts set them apart from other species of crocodiles, then when the crock's tough jaws are closed, its fourth tooth on each side of their bottom jaw peek out.

Hatching from a three month incubation period, these creatures are born in clutches of up to 60 eggs at any given time. The babies are approximately 22 centimetres (8.7 in) in size weighing roughly 60 grams (2 oz). The average adult can grow to 4metres (13ft) in length and can weigh up to 382 KG (840 lb) Females are usually the smaller of the species, averaging 3 metres (9.8 ft) and 173 kilograms (380 lb). Yet, they can grow much larger than this. Actually, in Central America one particular crocodile was noted to get to 7 metres (22 ft)!

When they start to grow into adult hood, living up to 70 -and rarely, 100- years, a visible swelling begins to form under each of the crocodile's eye.

Starting from snacking on insects as small crocodiles, these creatures grow to eat fish-making up the bulk of their diet- birds, turtles, crabs, frogs, snails and even cattle. When entirely grown they've no natural predators, and are effective of preying on almost any animal.

Very less aggressive as opposed to Nile and Australian relatives, American crocodiles are hardly ever seen by men and women, and have even been referred to as timid. Even so, there are already documented reports of human attacks and if perhaps you get the possibility to see one it is advised that they are not approached. Both on land and also in the water, crocodiles can move with high speed in spite of their size. Making use of its tail as a paddle it can swim up to 20 mph.

In the event an American Crocodile engages you on land, running in a zigzag pattern will really improve your odds of escape, seeing that their body shape makes it tough to manoeuvre speedily out of the water.

Where to Go

In Cozumel, they are considered a shy by nature making chancing upon one rare. More commonly than not they can be seen in the southern and northern parts of the area. You can observe this fascinating reptile in its natural environment at Cozumel's Punta Sur Park. Additionally, looking back down the road from the lighthouse at Punta Sur with the sea on your right, to the left you'll find a natural crocodile lagoon.

And then there, if perhaps you're fortunate, you'll as well come across the Crocodylus Acutus.

Adventure Tours

Join our Crocodile Tour on the mainland of the Riveira Maya to positively watch crocodiles on your visit.

If perhaps you are interested in a nice nature tour of Cozumel explore the Cozumel Island Tour.

The Great Mayan Pyramid And The Ancient Mayans

The Ancient Mayans became famous around the world for the enormous buildings and magnificent pyramids they built. Thousands of years ago where no medi and televsion exist, the ancient Mayans could construct anything they desired, anytime they desired to do so.

The ancient Mayan people were the earliest residents within specific parts of the Southern America. The largest ancient Mayan population groups were in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Western Honduras, and El Salvador. They were famous for their vitality and drive to sacrifice children plus their foes for their Gods. Moreover, the Mayans are famous for their calendar which tells about specific events in the wold and has declared that on December 2012 the world will end.

'Mesoamerican Pyramids' is the modern name for the ancient Mayan pyramids.

For the most part the ancient Mayans erected pyramids both as temples for their God's and for the defense of their civilisation. A lot of the biggest Mayan pyramids were produced from limestone, and others were made out of sandstone. The type of material basically relied on the place and goal of the pyramids.

The tallest and widest prehispanic pyramid stands in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. The local Mexican people, and the ancient Mayan people termed this age old pyramid 'Tlachihualtepetl' which simply means English as 'Artificial Mountain', simply because the pyramid is as high as some mountains on earth, however it's man made.

The biggest prehispanic pyramid stands at approximately 180ft (55 metres) tall, and it's around 1,300ft by 1,300ft (400 by 400 metres) wide. This is the biggest architectural site on the earth and has long been for the past 10 years.

The ancient civilisation was described to have built the age old pyramid being a sign of respect to the God at that time, which would probably develop into a Mayan God 'Quetzalcoatl' and as a method to praise the God. The civilisation may have also built the pyramid to ensure that future civilisations would be informed about their beloved God that they worshipped.

The stepped pyramid is found in the San Andres Cholula Municipality where the ancient civilisation is speculated to have started during the ancient times. The name 'Cholula', in English language means "Place of Refuge".

The pyramid was carefully erected over a thousand years, with each level on the stepped structure taking roughly a generation to build. The pyramid is actually 3 or 4 building built over each other, this is a good reason for its' steep height and width.

The Cholula Pyramid had over 100,000 people living on its' site, but in the 8th Century much of the populace within the pyramid left to other parts for causes which are currently unknown.

When the Spanish colonists under the command of Cortez arrived at the Cholula area the now very old Mayan pyramid was already fully over grown by vegetation and also plant life. When Cortez and his military forces slain the Mayans, and when the Spanish flu passed from the conquistadors to the Mayans, a large number of Mayans died, and once more the pyramid was utilized as a temple for the ceremonial burials of the native Mayans, even if the pyramid isn't created by the Mayans.

Excavation History

It was in 1881 that the very first recorded excavation was carried out and was conducted by a Swiss archaeologist who had transferred to South America for a better life in comparison with what he had back at home in Switzerland.

In the 1950's, after many, many years of excavation the Mexican Government enforced a blanket ban on excavations at the site of the Great Pyramid of Cholula.

Ancient Mayan Pyramid Misconceptions

Legend tells that the ancient Mayan pyramids were built up by a giant who had runaway a terrible flood in the nearby valley of Mexico. The giant is reputedly called 'Xelhua'.

The giant evidently built up the pyramids very high basically because after the floods he had turned out to be scared of water, and he needed somewhere to flee from the rivers and lakes down below. Naturally this isn't the truth, but the Mayans are famed for their myths and stories.

The fantastic ancient Mayan pyramids as well as prehispanic pyramids keep a lot of secrets as well as stories, some which are known, and several that are not known, and may continue to be unknown for a long time.

Mayan History - Trade And Economy During Mayan Civilization

The Mayans had a complex system of trade and economy in their entire history. In fact, contrary to early assertions, the Mayans clearly had strong commercial connections with other Mesoamerican cultures from all over South and Central america. See Mayan History here.

Initially, this trade network began as a linear route that ran from the Guatemala up to Mexico during the Preclassic period (around 2000 BC to 300 AD). Depending on the political and economic necessities, this trading network would change as time passes. Major cities such as Kaminaljuyu and Tak'alik Ab'aj are among the major trading hubs of the Mayan trade route. See Mayan ruins here.

The Development Of The Mayan Trading Networks.

These trading networks became successful due to favorable trading relationships with their neighbors as well as expertise in particular trading goods. By and large, it was the availability of resources among trading partners and the expansion of merchant class which lead to the emergence of specialized aspect of trading relationships.

Naturally, the extensive trade carried out by the Mayans would precipitate an increase in knowledge transfer with their neighbors. Considering this, it was only a short period of time before the Mayan literature, mathematics and astronomic knowledge would be imparted to many other Mesoamerican cultures and tribes.

Turquoise, Jade And Also Other Luxurious Materials

The Mayans would usually barter or trade their most valued items like Obsidian, Turquoise and Jade. The Mayans believed that Jade possesses the sacred powers beneficial to rulers which lead them to consider Jade as a valued trade item. On the other hand, Turquoise was believed by the Mayans to be a substance held dear by the Mayan gods and was thought to be associated with smoke.

The Mayans also value gems as well as other green colored items because they were regarded as a mystical link to their gods along with their semi-divine rulers.

Traders And Trade - How They Affect The Mayan Society

Over time, a large class of merchants eventually made due to the reasonably immense Mayan commerce network. These sellers would inevitably become part of the middle class, alongside artisans and other specialists who helped boost the demand for even more commerce and production within Mayan society.

The Mayans are free to carry out large scale trade with its neighbors, to traveling from one point of the Mayan trade network to a different one. Merchant wares were transported through hired porters, taking into consideration the absence of the wheel and even pack animals in Mesoamerica.

Salt, cotton, vanilla, obsidian and cacao are among the most common goods the Mayans traded. Several other resources such as Pyrite, Quartz, Magnatite, Clay and Cinnabar were also widely traded for use to be able to make mirrors, arms, dyes, ceramics and clothing.

A lot of these products were part of daily Mayan life, so much in fact that even salt and also chocolate were regarded as basic goods by even the lower classes of society. A few other goods that are exchanged, yet which were not always utilized for producing any certain type of product were Jaguar skins, Quetzal feathers, Shells, Macaw feathers along with many other animal furs. Like Jade and Obsidian, these furs were utilized most commonly for decoration or accessory by the upper class to be able to represent their rank and social position.

The Significance Of Trade

The Mayans and its civilization depended on trade. Basically, one of the primary explanations why the Mayan civilization collapsed was simply because its trade routes fell apart. The loss of trade brought on an erosion of success, which ultimately contributed to the fall of Mayan society.

In conclusion, the Mayans achieved positive results tremendously due to commerce. It was the source of exquisite items such as Jade and Turquoise for the upper classes. Trade provided commoners with Obsidian and Salt for their work and daily needs respectively. When there is an increase in trade same goes with the power of the merchants, who subsequently contributed to the success of Mayan civilization through their very end.