Sagittarius serpentarius – it’s got style, glamour, and a kick with a strike force 5 times its own body weight. The etymology of its common name, the secretary bird, is fuzzy; some sources say it refers to the long, quill-like plumes on the bird’s head, others that it stems from the Arabic saqr-et-tair, for hunter. With the longest legs of any bird of prey, these birds hunt terrestrially and are known for stomping their prey to death before eating it whole. It’s an admirably efficient process. They are particularly famed for killing snakes this way, referenced in the scientific name Sagittarius serpentarius, which means “archer of snakes.” I saw secretary birds throughout my trips to Tanzania, their stork-like height coupled with the heavy body of a raptor making them stand out on the savanna. Any large bird carries a gleam in their eye that says “We haven’t forgotten being dinosaurs,” but I think that, next to ostriches and emus, secretary birds may remember it the best.

The phrase “noli me tangere” is Latin, loosely translated as “don’t touch me” or “stop touching me/cease clinging to me.” It was a popular trope in medieval Christian art, depicting a scene in the Bible after the resurrection when Jesus said the phrase to Mary Magdalene. Derivations through the years include the Gadsden flag’s “Don’t tread on me,” with its aggrieved Revolutionary rattlesnake that has been appropriated in the modern era by the Tea Party and others who think that lifting a boot from someone else’s neck is the equivalent of having their own toes stepped on. While I do think that snakes – rattlesnakes in particular in the U.S. – get a bad rap, I wanted to flip the script from the static “don’t tread on me” – a fear of uncertain future attacks – to the older translation: stop touching me. The snake in the grass is doing me harm, here and now, and it’s going to stop. Time’s up.

 

Some sources:

http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/secretary-bird

http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/secretary_bird/secretarybird.htm