page_title: National symbols of Mexico
section_title: Coat of arms
hierarchical_section_title: National symbols of Mexico / Coat of arms
context_page_description: The national symbols of Mexico are the flag, the coat of arms and the anthem. The flag is a vertical tricolor of green, white, and red. The coat of arms features a golden eagle eating a snake on top of a cactus.
context_section_description: According to the official story of Mexico, the national coat of arms was inspired by an Aztec legend regarding the founding of Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs, then a nomadic tribe, were wandering throughout Mexico in search of a divine sign that would indicate the precise spot upon which they were to build their capital.  
  A closer look at the original Aztec codices, paintings, and the post-Cortesian codices shows that there was no snake in the original legends. While the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer depicts an eagle attacking a snake, other Aztec illustrations, like the Codex Mendoza, show only an eagle, while in the text of the Ramírez Codex, Huitzilopochtli asked the Aztecs to look for an eagle devouring a snake perched on a prickly pear cactus. In the text by Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin, the eagle is devouring something, but it is not mentioned what it is. Still other versions show the eagle clutching the Aztec symbol of war, the Atl-Tlachinolli glyph, or "burning water".
  The bird featured on the Mexican coat of arms is the golden eagle. This bird is known in Spanish as águila real (literally, "royal eagle"). In 1960, the Mexican ornithologist Martín del Campo identified the eagle in the pre-Hispanic codex as a northern caracara or "quebrantahuesos", a species common in Mexico (although the name "eagle" is taxonomically incorrect, as the caracara is a type of falcon).  Even so, the prickly pear cactus is considered the Mexican plant for official purposes, and for the same reason is considered the official cactus of Mexico.
caption: The current coat of arms.