Wildlife of Nicaragua
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Wildlife of Nicaragua includes its flora and fauna. Nicaragua has a wide variety of wildlife, most of which live in wildlife reserves and live in rainforests, lakes, mountains, and volcanoes throughout the country. Bosawás covers 1.8 million acres (7,300 km²) making it the 2nd largest rainforest in the Americas after the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil and is extremely rich in Biodiversity.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Nicaragua has 78 protected areas that include wildlife refuges and nature reserves that shelter a wide range of ecosystems. Flora and fauna species are in the thousands. There are about 12,000 vegetable classified species, another 5,000 not classified yet and there are more than 1,400 classified animal species.[1] There are also over 250,000 insect species.
Perhaps the creature that Nicaragua is best known for is the sea turtle. Each year thousands of sea turtles make the journey from the sea to the beach where they spend the entire night digging and nest and laying their eggs before returning to the waters. Unfortunately the sea turtle has become an endangered animal and so extensive efforts are being made to preserve them as much as possible.[2]
Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River is home to the Nicaragua shark which is the world's only freshwater shark.[3] Nicaragua has recently banned freshwater fishing of the Nicaragua shark and sawfish because of population declines.[4]
[edit] Fauna of Nicaragua
[edit] Birds
The avifauna of Nicaragua includes a total of 699 species, of which, 1 is endemic, 2 have been introduced by humans, and 14 are rare or accidental. 8 species are globally threatened.
- Guardabarranco which is Nicaragua's National bird.
- Chocoyos which are green parrots, mainly found in the Masaya volcano area.
- Toucans
- Macaws
[edit] Felines
Felines in Nicaragua include the jaguar, which is the largest feline found in the country. Other big cat species include:
[edit] Unusual animals
There are a number of unusual animals found in Nicaragua, some include:[5]
- The three-toed sloth may not seem to move much at all if you spot them since it takes them six hours to travel just one mile.
- The Tamandua anteater is roughly four feet long and has massive claws.
- The Armadillo which is a shelled creature that lives off insects.
[edit] Endangered species
There are many endangered animal species in Nicaragua.
Ometepe harbors large populations of the endangered white-faced capuchin monkey. Efforts have been put in to protect these animals. Nicaragua has banned fishing of the Nicaragua shark and sawfish because of population declines. [6], and the Wildlife Conservation Society and FFI has been involved in conservating the sea turtles. [7]
[edit] Protected areas
Nicaragua has 78 protected areas which cover about 20% of its landmass,[8] a number of which boast endangered species and are rich in biodiversity.[9] The National System of Protected Areas categorizes each protected area by:
- Nature Reserves
- Genetic Resource Reserves
- Nature Sanctuaries
- Private Nature Reserves
- National Monuments
- Historical Monuments
[edit] See also
- Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA)
- Protected areas of Nicaragua
- Tourism in Nicaragua
[edit] References
- ^ National Parks and Protected Areas of Nicaragua
- ^ Nicaragua.com - Wildlife - Nicaragua
- ^ The Nature Conservancy in Nicaragua - Nicaragua Nature - Nicaragua Conservation - Nicaragua Environment - Nature and Conservation
- ^ UnderwaterTimes | Nicaragua bans freshwater shark fishing amid dwindling population numbers
- ^ Nicaragua.com - Wildlife - Nicaragua
- ^ UnderwaterTimes | Nicaragua bans freshwater shark fishing amid dwindling population numbers
- ^ http://www.fauna-flora.org/americas/turtles.html
- ^ Eco-tourism in Nicaragua | Travel | guardian.co.uk
- ^ Nicaraguan Conservation on eathsisland.org- COMAP (Co-Management of Protected Areas)
[edit] External links
- Nicaragua.com on Wildlife
- underwatertimes.com Article on endangered shark in Nicaragua.
- WCSAdopt-a-turtle fund
- CentralAmerica.comInformation about National Parks
- More info on reserves
|
||||||||||||||
