Mount Calavite Wildlife Sanctuary
| Mount Calavite Wildlife Sanctuary | |||
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| Location: | Philippines | ||
| Specialty: | Mindoro | ||
| Next city: | Paluan | ||
| Surface: | 181.50 km² | ||
| Founding: | January 28, 1920 | ||
The Mount Calavite Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the oldest nature reserves in the Philippines . It is located in the northwest of the island of Mindoro in the province of Occidental Mindoro , the nearest town is Paluan . The nature reserve covers an area of 18,150 hectares and was established on January 28, 1920 as a hunting and bird sanctuary . This protection status was extended on January 26, 1925, with Executive Order No. 9, which designates this area as a legally protected nature reserve on an area of 17,000 hectares .
The area of the nature reserve is a mountainous terrain that reaches its greatest height on Mount Calavite with 1510 meters above sea level. The rock in the area of the nature reserve is known as pre-Jura to Jura Halcon transformation rock . This is the oldest rock on Mindoro Island and consists mainly of soapstone , phyllite and minor amounts of other minerals and other metamorphic rocks .
Until recently, the area was mainly covered by rainforests that stretched to the coast. However, some of these rainforests were cleared during reclamation for agricultural use. In the high elevations around Mount Calavite there are also grasslands that serve as a habitat for the Tamarau . Only small stocks of the Tamarau have been recorded.
In the Mount Calavite Wildlife Sanctuary populations of the plateau dove (Gallicolumba platenae) , the spotted fruit dove (Ducula carola) , the Mindoro hornbill (Penelopides mindorensis) and the Mindoromistle eater (Dicaeum retrocinctum) have been recorded.