Cueva de los Guácharos
National park in Colombia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cueva de los Guácharos National Natural Park (English: Cave of the Oilbirds)[1] is the oldest national park in Colombia. Located in the western face of the Colombian Eastern Andean Range in the departments of Huila and Caquetá, the park covers an area of 9,000 hectares (90 km2; 35 sq mi).[2][3] The caves formed from the karstic zones of the Magdalena and Caquetá rivers.[4][5]
| Cueva de los Guácharos | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Huila & Caqueta, Colombia |
| Nearest city | |
| Coordinates | 1°33′N 76°8′W |
| Area | 90.78 km2 (35.05 sq mi) |
| Established | November 9, 1960 |
| Governing body | SINAP |
The park is intended to protect the cloud forest and páramo ecosystems. This area hosts one of the last intact oak forests in the country, with the native oak species Quercus humboldtii (Bonpl.) and Trigonobalanus excelsa (Lozano, 1979)
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Biodiversity
In 2005, the National Natural Parks System identified 296 registered species of birds in the park.[6] Further recorded species are:
| Species | Family | Common name | Range | Conservation status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lagothrix lagotricha lugens (Humboldt) | Cebidae/Atelinae | Churuco monkey | High Amazon valley | vunerable |
| Cebus apella (Linnaeus) | Cebidae/Cebinae | corn monkey | Andes\Amazonas | least concern |
| Ateles paniscus (Linnaeus) | Cebidae/Atelinae | marimonda | mid and low Amazon valley | vunerable |
| Mazama americana (Erxleben) | Cervidae/Odocoileinae | páramo deer | Neotropic | data deficient |
| Mazama rufina (Lesson) | Cervidae/Odocoileinae | páramo deer | vunerable | |
| Pudu mephistophiles (De Winton) | Cervidae/Odocoileinae | rabbit deer | North Andean: northern Ecuador to southern Colombia | data deficient |
| Tapirus pinchaque (Roulin) | Tapiridae | páramo tapir | threatened |