Some clearly have Torah influences, but others are believed by scholars to represent native flood myths of pre-Columbian origin.
Another myth found among the Aztec and Totonac peoples relates how a human couple survive by hiding in a hollow vessel and start to cook a fish when the water subsides.
When the smoke reaches the heavens the gods become angry and punish them by turning them into dogs or monkeys depending on the version.
The third race of humans carved from wood were destroyed by a flood, mauled by wild animals and smashed by their own tools and utensils.
[4] In Mesoamerican myth a variety of reasons are given for the occurrence of the flood: either the world was simply very old and needed to be renewed; the humans had neglected their duty to adore the gods; or they were punished for a transgression (cannibalism, for example).