Cipactli

According to one Aztec tradition, Teocipactli "Divine Crocodile" was the name of a survivor of the flood who rescued himself in a canoe and again repopulated the earth.

Karl A. Taube has noted that among the Formative-period Olmec and the pre-Hispanic Maya peoples, crocodilians were identified with rain-bringing wind, probably because of the widespread belief that wind and rain clouds are "breathed" out of cave openings in the earth.

A series of Olmec-style basreliefs from Chalcatzingo in the state of Morelos portrays crocodilians breathing rain clouds from their upturned mouths.

Portable green stone Olmec sculptures depict crocodilians in similar positions, indicating that they are probably also breathing.

In the Mayan Popol Vuh, the name of the earthquake demon, Sipakna, apparently derives from Cipactli.