Aztec PantheonCreature
Ahuizotl
- Aquatic Ambush
- Prehensile Tail Hand
- Drowning Victims
- Tlaloc's Servant
A fearsome aquatic creature from Aztec mythology resembling a dog with monkey-like hands and a human hand at the end of its tail. It lurks in lakes and rivers, using the hand on its tail to snatch unsuspecting victims and drag them underwater. Those it drowns are found with their eyes, teeth, and nails removed, offerings destined for Tlaloc, the rain god.
About Ahuizotl
The Water-Dog of Tlaloc
Sahagún's Florentine Codex describes the ahuitzotl as a dog-like water creature with extra hands, including one at the tail, that drowns people so Tlaloc may take them. Corpses are found without eyes, nails, and teeth. The Aztec emperor Ahuitzotl took the name. Sahagún's informants treat the drowning as a Tlaloc-claim, not a random lake accident.
A water-dog and a king
The Florentine Codex adds that if the creature failed to catch someone, it would cry like a child to lure people to the water's edge, and that those it took were considered chosen by the tlaloque and buried with honour by the priests. The eighth tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, Ahuitzotl (r. 1486-1502), used the creature as his name-glyph in the codices that record his reign.
Quick answers about Ahuizotl
- What is Ahuizotl?
- A fearsome aquatic creature from Aztec mythology resembling a dog with monkey-like hands and a human hand at the end of its tail. It lurks in lakes and rivers, using the hand on its tail to snatch unsuspecting victims and drag them underwater. Those it drowns are found with their eyes, teeth, and nails removed, offerings destined for Tlaloc, the rain god.
- Where does Ahuizotl live?
- The atlas lists Ahuizotl's habitat as Lakes and Rivers of Central Mexico.
- What abilities does Ahuizotl have?
- The atlas lists these abilities for Ahuizotl: Aquatic Ambush, Prehensile Tail Hand, Drowning Victims, and Tlaloc's Servant.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Book 11
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
The danger rating is an editorial shorthand for how the myths portray the creature, not a claim made by the sources.
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