Emas National Park

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The Emas National Park ( Portuguese Parque Nacional das Emas ) is a nature reserve in the central savannah highlands ( Cerrado ) of Brazil in the state of Goiás . It was set up in 1961 and 2001 together with the Chapada dos Veadeiros for World Heritage of UNESCO explained. The national park protects a savanna region in which numerous threatened large animal species live.

Geography and climate

The 1319 km² park is located on the Serra dos Caiapós between 1000 m on the plateau and 400 m altitude in the river valleys. The climate is tropical hot and moderately humid, with hot and rainy summers and cold, wet winters. The park's boundaries, which are mostly formed by roads and rivers, pose problems for the area's wildlife. In addition, numerous bush fires threaten the gallery forests and in some cases also threatened animal species such as the giant anteater. The relatively slow animals sometimes die in the fires.

Flora and fauna

The Serra dos Caiapós consists mostly of open grassland, only about a quarter of the area is forested and only 5% are wetlands. Nevertheless, the flora is species-rich with around 600 described species (1999). The park is particularly known for its abundance of animals and the fact that nowhere else in South America they are so easy to observe in open terrain. Among the 86 mammal species have different endangered large animal species such as maned wolf , jaguar , giant anteater , giant armadillo and Pampas deer . The largest bird species in the area is the rhea . Of the 354 bird species observed, 12 are endangered; in particular a number of specialized grassland birds are endemic here .

The jaguar population is relatively small, as only about 40% of the 1320 square kilometer area is really good habitat for these big cats. In addition, the population is largely isolated because the surrounding areas are highly sprawled and characterized by soy plantations. It is estimated that around 10-12 jaguars live in the area of ​​the national park and in the immediately adjacent areas. In addition to the maned wolf, there are three other dog species in the park. The Brazilian battle fox is a very characteristic species of the Cerrado savannah region, while the Maikong is relatively widespread. Finally, the third species, albeit rarely, is the forest dog . Other predatory species include puma , ocelot , jaguarundi , pampas cat , South American coati , crab raccoon , Amazon skunk , tayra , small rison and South American otter . Larger herbivores are represented in the park in addition to the pampas deer by lowland tapir , whitebeard pekari , collar pekari , swamp deer , red pintail and gray pintail. The sanctuary is also home to two species of monkeys: the black howler monkey and the hooded caupziner . In addition to the giant anteater, the tamandua is another species of this family native to the park. The nine-banded armadillo , seven-banded armadillo , six-banded armadillo and the great bare- tailed armadillo represent the armadillo family together with the giant armadillo. There are also numerous opossums , bats and rodents, such as South American giant rats . The largest rodent species in the area is the capybara. Other species that are actually very typical of the Cerrado savannahs, such as the tapeti , the marmosets and Thrichomys apereoides, are absent from the national park.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Kent H. Redford: Emas National Park and the plight of the Brazilian cerrados. In: Oryx. (1985), 19, pp. 210-214.
  2. ↑ a b Flavio HG Rodrigues, Leandro Silveira, Anah T .A. Jacomo, Ana Paula Carmignotto, Alexandra MR Bezerra, Daniela Cunha Coelho, Hamilton Garbogini, Juliana Pagnozzi, Adriani Hass: Composição e caracterização da fauna de mamfferos do Parque Nacional das Emas, Goias, Brasil. In: Revta bras. Zool. 19 (2) 2002, pp. 589-600. (online PDF; 4.4 MB)
  3. ↑ Thannya Nascimento Soares, Mariana PC Telles, Lucileide V. Resende, Leandro Silveira, Anah Tereza A. Jácomo, Ronaldo G. Morato, José Alexandre F. Diniz-Filho, Eduardo Eizirik, Rosana PV Brondani, Claudio Brondani: Paternity testing and behavioral ecology: A case study of jaguars ( Panthera onca ) in Emas National Park, Central Brazil. In: Genetics and Molecular Biology. 29, 4 (2006), pp. 735-740. (online PDF; 176 kB)
  4. ↑ Anah Tereza de Almeida J´acomo, Leandro Silveira, Jos´e Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho: Niche separation between the maned wolf ( Chrysocyon brachyurus ), the crab-eating fox (Dusicyon thous) and the hoary fox (Dusicyon vetulus) in central Brazil. In: J. Zool. Lond. (2004) 262, pp. 99-106.

Web links

Coordinates: 18 ° 5 ′  S , 52 ° 55 ′  W