Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary

Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Map of Belize
Location	Toledo District, Belize
Coordinates	16°08′22″N 89°10′21″W / 16.1393209°N 89.1725409°W / 16.1393209; -89.1725409Coordinates: 16°08′22″N 89°10′21″W / 16.1393209°N 89.1725409°W / 16.1393209; -89.1725409
Area	5,492 acres (22 km²)
Established	1998
Governing body	Co-managed by Aguacaliente Management Team

The Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary is a nature reserve in the Toledo District of southern Belize. It encompasses approximately 5,492 acres (22.23 km²) and was declared a sanctuary in 1998. The Sanctuary is critical for the preservation of biodiversity in Belize and the region.^[1] The National Park protects the central wetlands areas which consist of three fresh water lagoons and a hot-spring connected by a number of creeks ^[2]hence the name Aguacaliente. It is co-managed by the Aguacaliente Management Team (AMT), a consortium of people from adjacent villages.

Notable Features

The lagoons are a feeding area for hundreds of waterfowl including wood storks, endangered jabiru storks, black-bellied whistling ducks, sandpipers, and others. Many of the birds use the sanctuary as a transmigration point during their seasonal journeys.
The Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary plays an important role in flood control and water purification.The wetlands act as a filter for the Moho River Watershed, holding and cleansing runoff and floodwaters before they travel through adjacent villages to the Gulf of Honduras.^[3]
The forest and savanna areas of the Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary provide habitat for a wide variety of animals including gibnuts|peccary, black howler monkeys, white-tailed deer, kinkajous, and endangered tapirs and jaguar.

References

↑ Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary - You Better BelizeIt, 2016
↑ Biodiversity in Belize - Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary REA, 2016
↑ Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary - You Better BelizeIt, 2016

External links

Protected areas of Belize
National parks	Aguas Turbias Bacalar Chico Billy Barquedier Chiquibul Five Blues Lake Gra Gra Lagoon Guanacaste Honey Camp Laughing Bird Caye Mayflower Bocawina Monkey Bay Elijio Panti Payne's Creek Peccary Hills Río Blanco Sarstoon-Temash St. Herman's Blue Hole
Natural monuments	Actun Tunichil Muknal Blue Hole Half Moon Caye Thousand Foot Falls Victoria Peak
Nature reserves	Bladen Burdon Canal Tapir Mountain
Wildlife sanctuaries	Aguacaliente Cockscomb Basin Corozal Bay Crooked Tree Gales Point Spanish Creek Swallow Caye
Forest reserves	Caye Caulker Chiquibul Columbia River Deep River Fresh Water Creek Grants Work Machaca Manatee Mango Creek Monkey Caye Mountain Pine Ridge Maya Mountain Sibun Sittee River Swasey Bladen Vaca
Marine reserves	Bacalar Chico Caye Caulker Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Glover's Reef Hol Chan Port Honduras Sapodilla Cayes South Water Caye
Archaeological reserves	Altun Ha Barton Creek Cahal Pech Caracol Cerro Maya El Pilar Lamanai Lubaantun Marco Gonzalez Nim Li Punit Nohoch Che'en Santa Rita Serpon Sugar Mill Xunantunich Yarborough Cemetery
Other reserves	Aguacate Lagoon Bird sanctuaries Block 127 Community Baboon Sanctuary Golden Stream Monkey Bay Río Bravo Runaway Creek Shipstern

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Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary

Notable Features

See also

References

External links