Manusela National Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Manusela National Park | |
|---|---|
The jungle of Manusela National Park | |
| Location | Maluku, Indonesia |
| Nearest city | Ambon |
| Coordinates | 3°3′S 129°26′E / 3.050°S 129.433°E |
| Area | 1,890 km2 |
| Established | 1997 |
| Governing body | Ministry of Forestry |
Manusela National Park is located on Seram island, in the Maluku archipelago of Indonesia. It is made up of coastal forest, swamp forest, lowland and montane rainforest ecosystem types. Mount Binaiya at 3,027 meters, is the highest of the park's six mountains. Seram is remarkable for its high degree of localised bird endemism.[1] The park also includes important karst landscapes. On Mount Hatu Saka, near the coast of Saleman-Sawai, it is the Goa Hatusaka, currently the deepest cave of the whole Indonesia.[2][3]

Among the plants that grow in this park are Avicennia, Dryobalanops and Pandanus species, Alstonia scholaris, Terminalia catappa, Shorea selanica, Octomeles sumatrana, Bruguiera sexangula, Melaleuca leucadendra, Pometia pinnata, and various species of orchid.[4]
Of the 118 species of bird on the island, 15 are endemic, including the eclectus parrot, purple-naped lory, salmon-crested cockatoo, lazuli kingfisher, sacred kingfisher, grey-necked friarbird, Moluccan king parrot,[4] bicoloured white-eye, Boano monarch,[5] and Seram masked owl.
The mammals found on Seram include Asian species (murid rodents) as well as Australasian marsupials. The montane area of Seram supports the greatest number of endemic mammals of any island in the region. It harbors 38 mammal species and includes nine species that are endemic or near endemic, several of which are limited to montane habitats. These include the Seram bandicoot, Moluccan flying fox, Seram flying-fox, Manusela mosaic-tailed rat, spiny Ceram rat and the Ceram rat, all considered threatened.[5]