Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

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**Noel Kempff Mercado National Park**¹
**UNESCO World Heritage Site**

State Party	Bolivia
Type	Natural
Criteria	ix, x
Identification	#967
Region²	Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	2000 24th WH Committee Session
WH link:	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/967
1 Name as officially inscribed on the WH List 2 As classified officially by UNESCO

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)

Location:	Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia
Coordinates:	14°16′0″S, 60°52′0″W
Area:	15,234 km²
Established:	June 28, 1979

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is a national park in the north-eastern portion of the Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia, on the border with Brazil.

1 Date of creation
2 Description
3 Flora
4 Fauna
5 Birds
6 Reptiles
7 Invertebrates
8 Principal goals
9 See also
10 External links

[edit] Date of creation

The date of its foundation was on June 28, 1979. Its original name was "Parque Nacional Huanchaca", but was then changed to "Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado" in honor of the late Prof. Noel Kempff Mercado, for his research and discoveries in the Park.

[edit] Description

The Noel Kempff Mercado National Park spans 15,234 km² (5,880 mi²) in northeastern Bolivia in one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Bolivia is known for its diversity in climate, fauna and flora. In the area of Santa Cruz de la Sierra the weather is very humid and warm. This area near the border of Brazil there are a lot of Rainforests and Tropical animals. The normal temperature is between 25 and 29 °C. The rainfall is annually, roughly 1500 mm

[edit] Flora

It is estimated that the park has approximately 4.000 species of vascular plants. There exist diverse types of bromelias, passifloras, heliconias, aráceas and palm trees. There are also important types of wood like the "Mara". The area encompasses five important ecosystems ranging from Amazonian rain forest, gallery forest and semi-deciduous tropical forest to flooded savanna and dry cerrado.

[edit] Fauna

The Park is home to more than 130 species of mammals (including rare river otters, river dolphins, tapirs, spider and howler monkeys, the giant armadillo, giant anteaters and endangered jaguars, including a population of black jaguars), 620 species of birds (including 9 species of macaw, possibly the highest number of species in any one protected area), and 70 species of reptiles, including black caiman.

[edit] Birds

In this area there are more than 617 species of birds (20% of the entire birds in South America). The most recent studies say that these numbers will increase once they count the passing birds.

[edit] Reptiles

In this park there exist nearly 74 species of reptiles including the black caiman, snakes, and other rare species.

[edit] Invertebrates

The park counts with 347 insects, in these are a lot of the rarest in the world. They are unfortunately not studied yet. It has a huge collection of butterflies in the most beautiful colors there are.