The Emas National Park (Portuguese: Parque Nacional das Emas, literally meaning "Rhea National Park") is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil.[1]

Emas National Park
UNESCO World Heritage Site
LocationGoiás, Brazil
Part ofCerrado Protected Areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks
CriteriaNatural: (ix)(x)
Reference1035-002
Inscription2001 (25th Session)
Area131,386 ha (324,660 acres)
Coordinates18°S 53°W / 18°S 53°W / -18; -53
Emas National Park is located in Brazil
Emas National Park
Location of Emas National Park in Brazil

Description edit

The National Park is located between the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul in the Center-West Region of Brazil, between 17º50’—18º15’S and 52º39’—53º10’W. It covers 1,320 square kilometres (510 sq mi) of cerrado savannah.[1] The park is in the Pantanal Biosphere Reserve, which also includes the Pantanal, Chapada dos Guimarães and Serra da Bodoquena national parks, and the Serra de Santa Bárbara, Nascentes do Rio Taquari and Pantanal de Rio Negro state parks.[2] The surrounding area is dominated by large soybean plantations.

Flora and fauna edit

Emas National Park shows a typical cerrado ecosystem; a treeless savannah with tall termite mounds and an interesting amount of wildlife: the giant anteater, the maned wolf, giant armadillo, pampas deer[3] and the namesake greater rhea, among others.

Emas National Park also holds a small jaguar population, perhaps consisting of about 10-12 animals. Only about 40% of the reserve, which covers 1,320 square kilometres (510 sq mi) in total, is good jaguar habitat.[4]

Other larger mammals include puma, ocelot, Brazilian tapir, collared peccary, white-lipped peccary, marsh deer, red brocket, gray brocket, black howler monkey and capybara.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Cerrado Protected Areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks". Paris, France: UNESCO. 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-04.
  2. ^ Carrijo & Torrecilha 2009, p. 2.
  3. ^ a b Flavio H.G. Rodrigues, Leandro Silveira, Anah T .A. Jacomo, Ana Paula Carmignotto, Alexandra M.R. Bezerra, Daniela Cunha Coelho, Hamilton Garbogini, Juliana Pagnozzi, Adriani Hass. Composi~ao e caracteriza~ao da fauna de mamfferos do Parque Nacional das Emas, Goias, Brasil.Revta bras. Zool. 19 (2): 589 – 600, 2002. online PDF
  4. ^ Thannya Nascimento Soares, Mariana P.C. Telles, Lucileide V. Resende, Leandro Silveira, Anah Tereza A. Jácomo, Ronaldo G. Morato, José Alexandre F. Diniz-Filho, Eduardo Eizirik, Rosana P.V. Brondani and Claudio Brondani: Paternity testing and behavioral ecology: A case study of jaguars (Panthera onca) in Emas National Park, Central Brazil. Genetics and Molecular Biology, 29, 4, 735-740 (2006). online PDF Archived 2012-10-13 at the Wayback Machine

Sources edit

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