Posted December 24, 2025 Written by Nicholas Hellmuth
This is "Santa Nicholas" being pulled by native deer of Guatemala. The same species of deer that are common throughout the USA are also native and wild even in the rain forests of Guatemala. In Classic Maya art deer are often associated with monkeys—some Maya portraits of deer feature an obvious monkey tail on the deer. And paintings of monkeys often show them with deer antlers and deer ears.
The circular path is the Maya Sky Band with celestial motifs. We have published many PDFs on this topic. Just Google Sky Band Hellmuth FLAAR.
Often the Sky Band is the body of a Bicephalic Cosmic Monster, with "starry-eyed" deer at the left and an upside-down Quadripartite Badge Headdress monster at the right. Just Google Bicephalic Cosmic Monster, crocodile lecture, Hellmuth and you will see lots of Maya art with this cosmic monster.
For year 2026 we will continue with new iconography reports on deer, on monkeys, on bats, on rabbits, on macaws and fish and other native fauna featured in Maya art at the national museum of art and ethnology of Guatemala. The goal is to prepare educational material for the literally hundreds of school groups that visit the museum every month plus the thousands of tourists who also visit this prestigious national museum.
Simultaneously, we will be engaged in field trips and library research on flora, fauna and biodiverse ecosystems of the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya, RBM, Peten, especially of Parque Nacional Yaxha, Nakum and Naranjo (PNYNN) and surroundings.
We now have a new Mavic 4 Pro drone whose aerial camera is significantly better than all previous models that we had in recent years. Most importantly for working in national parks, the Mavic 4 Pro can be flown at eye-level through the forest—so we can show eye-level views in addition to the obviously important aerial views from above.
We also continue our long-range research project on all the hundreds of wild plants, native to Guatemala, have edible parts. With the help of the Q’eqchi’ Maya team that work with us, we are preparing FLAAR Reports on several wild plants of the cloud forests of Alta Verapaz that produce edible food without needing slash-and-burn milpa agriculture.
Wasps (and also Bees) as Pollinators of
wild Poinsettia Flowers, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala
Poinsettias Have Nectar in a Nectar Gland, physically Separate from the actual Flowers
Beetles, flies, moths in addition to butterflies, bats are also pollinators. I have seen ants wandering across flowers and leaving with pollen attached to their body. Same with grasshoppers (in the FLAAR Ethnobotanical Research Garden in Guatemala City). Obviously botanists and wasp entomologists know that wasps are also pollinators, but the general public tend to detest wasps to such a degree that they don’t consider them beneficial in any aspect.
All the wasp species that have made nests in front of my door have never attacked me even when I was doing close-up macro photography—because these wasps saw me every day and realized that I never bothered their nest.
Yes, there are vicious WARRIOR WASPS, including in Guatemala, the Northern Warrior Wasp, but if you don’t get too close to their nest they will not attack. We have photographed lots of their nests with telephoto lenses and now have a FLAAR Reports on them.
Deer Iconography in Classic Maya Art Part 1, Just Deer, No Hunting Scenes, 75 pages with 65 photos and drawings.
Deer in Maya Art, Iconography Part II, Deer in Kerr Rollouts and Deer in Hellmuth Digital Rollouts, Rollout Drawings from FLAAR Illustrators and Rollout Drawings by Dana G. Moot II, 193 double-width pages with 192 rollouts, photos, and drawings.
Deer Hunters’ Headdresses and Conch Shell Musical Instruments The same Hunters’ Headdresses were worn by many Maya Ballplayers, Part III of Iconography of Maya Deer. 121 double-width pages with over 159 rollouts, photos, and drawings.
Deer Hunting Hats worn as Headdresses by Maya Ballplayers, Iconography of Maya Deer, Part IV. 51 pages with 28 photos, including rollouts, drawings, and rollout drawings.
440 pages of text including 372 rollout photos, rollout drawings, plus photos and drawings in addition to the rollouts. So, if you are curious about deer in Maya iconography this series is available to you. We greatly appreciate the illustrations that were sent to us by archaeologists and iconographers—they are all credited in the captions. Illustrations from books and articles are cited in the captions.
This corpus of illustrations makes it possible to share documentation on the iconography of deer in Classic Maya art.
This is "Santa Nicholas" being pulled by native deer of Guatemala. In Classic Maya art deer are associated with monkeys. And paintings of monkeys often show them with deer antlers and deer ears.
The circular path is the Maya Sky Band with celestial motifs. We have published many PDFs on this topic. Just Google Sky Band Hellmuth FLAAR.
Often the Sky Band is the body of a Bicephalic Cosmic Monster, with "starry-eyed" deer at the left and an upside-down Quadripartite Badge Headdress monster at the right. Just Google Bicephalic Cosmic Monster, crocodile lecture, Hellmuth and you will see lots of Maya art with this monster.
So for year 2025 we will continue with new iconography reports on deer, on monkeys, on bats, on rabbits in Maya art. Our research results on iconography of peccary in Maya art are already published--just Google peccary, Maya iconography, Hellmuth.
Written by researchers Sergio D’angelo Jerez and Alejandra Valenzuela.
Edited by Sergio D’angelo Jerez.
On September 5, 2024
In commemoration of National Quetzal Day in Guatemala, we encourage you to learn about the national bird of this country, but in a different way. Here you will find an extract from The bird-snake mansion, one of the most beloved literary works in Guatemala, written by Guatemalan author Virgilio Rodríguez Macal. In correlation with different paragraphs of the extract, you will also find scientific data related to real-life elements described by Rodríguez in his tale.
Habitat and distribution
Now, another inhabitant of the rooms of Jorón, the cold,
was Gug, the Resplendent Quetzal…truly, he was the most beautiful of all, the most
beautiful among all those who move
around
the vast extensions of the Green World…
A male Resplendent Quetzal photographed in Ranchitos del Quetzal. Purulhá, Alta Verapaz; June 15, 2017. Photo by Nicholas Hellmuth.
Pharomachrus mocinno, also known as the Resplendent Quetzal, is truly a beautiful bird endemic to Mesoamerica. Its most usual habitats are patches of high-elevation tropical, rainforests and cloud forests in the geographical region that ranges from Chiapas, in Southern México, throughout Central America, and Panama (Renner, 2005). This magnificent bird is usually found at elevations exceeding 1,400 masl, often in very humid forests with abundant broad-leaved oaks (from the Quercus genus), pines (Pinus spp.), and other evergreen tree species (Kappelle, 2006). Studies have found that P. mocinno prefers to inhabit primary forests (forests that have been not disturbed by human activity), and that it is also able to survive and reproduce in some secondary forests (forests that develop after having cleared the original primary forest) (Chokkaingam, 2001; Renner, 2005).
Characteristics
He was known by the name Gug, the snake-bird, since he truly looked like a cute little bird who was always followed by two or more snakes of the most beautiful colors… Gug’s chest was red as blood, with a little white. His body had an unidentifiable color, between blue, gold, and green, as if the rainbow itself lived on him forever, broken into a thousand pieces.
Divine, most truly, was the bird-snake, since these snakes that followed him were no other than Gug’s tail, a tail with three or even more of the longest feathers, that looked each as a thin rainbow…
When Gug moved around the ground, the leaves, and ferns shook behind his body, as the feathers of its tail went through. True divine snakes are what the feathers of its tail looked like, which followed him submissively as if they were snakes of Heaven, with no poison, and with no evil.
A beautiful male Resplendent Quetzal. Photo shared by Haniel López.
Although the Resplendent Quetzal is famous for what its name describes, a sumptuous bird of iridescent emerald colors, this description doesn’t fit all the members of the species. As can be observed in many instances in nature, P. mocinno presents an evident sexual dimorphism in adults, a condition where males and females from the same species have different appearances (Britannica, 2024; Dayer, 2020). Adult males have long and green uppertail covert feathers that grow beyond the tail, as well as small feathers on the head that form a crest, and bright yellow beaks. This, along with the iridescent gold and green feathers that cover most of its body and the bright red feathers of its belly and undertail covert, are the most distinctive features of a male Quetzal.
The female’s appearance is a bit less eye-catching; the feathers on its belly, throat and sides are grayish brown and their beaks are dark gray. Females also have a crest and uppertail coverts, but these are much smaller and less developed than in males. Nevertheless, females have the same beautiful golden-green feathers on body areas like the crown, back, wings and uppertail coverts (although they do not grow beyond the tip of its tail) (Dayer, 2020).
Written by Biologist Pamela Alejandra Jerez Pazos On August 19, 2024
Edited by Sergio D’angelo Jerez
One of the most diverse and fascinating groups of reptiles are lizards, which occupy a fundamental position in the ecosystems of the entire planet. These extraordinary creatures can have a wide variety of shapes, sizes and behaviors, which not only reinforces the importance of studying them, but also makes them very interesting.
Basiliscus vittatus. La Buga, Livingston; March 2021. Photo by Victor Mendoza.
Lizards constitute a group of four-limbed organisms with scales, an external ear opening, and movable eyelids (Almaraz, 2024).
In Guatemala, there are around 106 species, divided into 17 families among which are chameleons, skinks, iguanas, and geckos. The families are: Anguidae, Corytophanidae, Dactyloidae, Eublepharidae, Gekkonidae, Gymnophtalmidae, Helodermatidae, Iguanidae, Mabuyidae, Phrynosomatidae, Phyllodactylidae, Scincidae, Sphaerodactylidae, Sphenomorphidae, Teiidae, Xantusiidae, and Xenosauridae.
Norops sp. Natural Reserve Tapon Creek, Livingston. David Arrivillaga, October 2021.
Given their great diversity in the region, it is not a surprise that these animals were portrayed by the Maya in the past, and that they made their way into some more modern Maya cultural expressions. How? Take a look at the following examples:
To begin with, some of the rulers in the Maya civilization were named after lizard species. In Chiapas (Mexico) there was at least one ruler named Aj Sak Teles, which means the White Lizard (Davletshin, 2009; Houston et al., 2017). Not far away, was registered a second name including the name of a lizard, and curiously, a color as well. The name is Aj Yax Tolook, which means the Green and Blue Lizard, and it was found on a polychrome cylindrical vessel from the Lord of Petén (Houston et al., 2017). It is speculated that this name in particular may be referring to a species of basilisk, which in addition is believed to have been used for medicine by mashing its brain (Houston et al., 2017).
