Beautiful and freedizing bird Ketzal for a long time revered by Indians of Central America as a symbol of good, freedom, light and plants. These days are under guard and enters the Red Book.
Ketzal (Ketsal, Kvezal) is the largest bird from the Torgone-shaped family. The length of the male reaches 40 cm. This bird lives in the forests of Central America, prefers to settle in wet forests growing in mountainous terrain.
Most representatives of touch-shaped have a bright plumage, but Ketzali are the most beautiful of them. The chest and stomach are painted in crimson color, head, back, part of the neck and wings - saturated green. Tail feathers are overflowing with greenish-blue shades.
Such painting is masking: Green feathers merge with foliage trees, bright abdominal reminds the color of epiphytes, in abundance of growing in wet forests.
Additionally, the tail is decorated with two long bending feathers. When the bird sits in the nest, these feathers are fused out.
In one of the legends it is described why the raspberry feathers have a beautiful bird.
Malinovaya color appeared during the conquest of the American continent. During one of the battles of Indians, many Maya tribemen died with the Spaniards. A flock of green ketzals fell on the bodies. They covered the bodies of people with wings and were sitting on them for a long time, mourning the dead, from which the birds of birds were painted with blood.
The Indians of Central America, this free bird, considered the incarnation of their main God of Ketzalcoatil. It was a symbol of good, light, spring and plants. Noncent foods were having headdresses made of Ketzal Feather - so they received the patronage of Ketzalcoatlia.
To get the feathers of the sacred bird, it was caught, then trampled part of the tail and let go. Murder or damage to Ketzali was considered a great sin. Residents defeated birds, brought them treatments, decorated the trees on which their nests were.
Until our days, local residents remember and honor Ketzl. This bird is a national symbol of Guatemala, it is depicted on the coat of arms of the country. In 1925, the monetary unit of Ketsal was introduced instead of Peso, equal to 60 pesos.
Ketzali live by one, only for the pairing period they are collected in pairs, and the couple they create one for life. Since these birds love to live alone, males belong to the protection of the territory very responsibly: they can crack a stranger from their possessions.
In the marriage period, the female places the cozy Nestsdyshko in Duples, puts two eggs. For 18 days, future parents, as a rule, take turns at the turns. Farm babies ketzali also together. They feed on fruit and berries, insects, small lizards and frogs.
Three weeks, the chicks get up on the wing, by this time the mother leaves them, and the padasch still defeats his offspring. Ketzali flies pretty badly, in the forest there are many dangers in the forest, especially the vulnerabilities of the first year. The main enemies of these birds are owls and eagles.
But people became the main enemies of sacred birds. Before the appearance of the Spaniards on the lands of the Indians in the forests there were many of these beautiful birds. When the conquerors learned that Ketzal is considered to have the local population by the embodiment of their main God, they began to hunt it, as a result, the number of birds declined sharply.
In addition to this mass extermination, bright feathers became the subject of trade. In Europe, fashion appeared on the decoration of Ketzal headdors.
And only in the XIX century it was officially forbidden to catch the ketzalei. In 1895, the Guatemalan president established a sentence for causing damage to this bird: a month of prison and a fine.
Among other things, forests are largely cut down, which leads to a reduction in the territories on which Ketzali live.
In many countries of Central America, national parks and reserves have been created, ecotourism is actively developing, which gives hope for the salvation of this beautiful bird - the symbol of freedom and good.
Author - Lyudmila Belan-Chernogor
Source - Springzhizni.ru.