Cuchillas del Toa ( en, Ridges of Toa) is a

Biosphere Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. It is located in the eastern part of the country, mostly in the

Guantánamo Province Guantánamo is the easternmost province of Cuba. Its capital is also called Guantánamo. Other towns include Baracoa. The province has the only land border of the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay. Overview Guantánamo's architecture and cultu ...

and reaching to the north into the

Holguín Province Holguín () is one of the provinces of Cuba, the third most populous after Havana and Santiago de Cuba. It lies in the southeast of the country. Its major cities include Holguín (the capital), Banes, Antilla, Mayarí, and Moa. The province ha ...

. Most of the reserve is established in the drainage area of the Toa River, which flows for to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Baracoa Baracoa, whose full original name is: ''Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa'' (“Our Lady of the Assumption of Baracoa”), is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was visited by Admiral Christop ...

Overview

The reserve extends along , of which to the marine area. Cuchillas del Toa is considered as one of the principal centers of biodiversity and

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

in Cuba and the insular Caribbean with pine forests,

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

s and xeric scrub to complex coastal vegetation with

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s and

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s. The

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

ic system of the great cave of Moa Head lands is one of the five natural monuments in the country and one of the great cave systems in eastern Cuba. With high biodiversity in flora and fauna, there are 928 endemic species reported, including primitive species belonging to the genera ''

Podocarpus ''Podocarpus'' () is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. The name comes from Greek πούς (poús, “foot”) + καρπός (karpós, “fruit”). ''Podocarpus'' species ...

'' and '' Dracaena''. Cuchillas del Toa is home to the highly endangered

Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker The Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker ( es, carpintero real, link=no) (''Campephilus principalis bairdii'') is a subspecies of the ivory-billed woodpecker native to Cuba. Originally classified as a separate species, recent research has indicated tha ...

(''Campephilus principalis bairdii''),

Cuban kite The Cuban kite (''Chondrohierax wilsonii'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles and harriers. It is endemic to Cuba. This species is classified as critically endang ...

(''Chondrohierax wilsoni''), and the

Cuban solenodon The Cuban solenodon or ''almiquí'' (''Atopogale cubana'') is a small, furry, shrew-like mammal endemic to mountainous forests on Cuba. It is the only species in the genus ''Atopogale''. An elusive animal, it lives in burrows and is only active ...

(''Solenodon cubanus''). Some of the world's smallest mammal species are found in the reserve. About 18,300 inhabitants (2002), in 498 communities, live in the buffer zone and transition area of this mountainous reserve. Engaged in forestry, traditional agriculture (

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

, and cacao) and

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

, they also raise cattle and participate in

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...

mining. These activities had increased negative impacts in the carrying capacity of the ecosystems, one of the main problems the reserve faces today. Another interesting aspect of this biosphere reserve is its history as battlefield for freedom. In the 18th and 19th centuries, escaped

African slaves Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were common in parts of Africa in ancient times, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient world. When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Indian Ocean sl ...

called Cimmarones found refuge in the region. It is twinned with the

Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve is a protected natural area in Chiapas state of southern Mexico. The reserve protects 3312 km2 of the Lacandon Jungle, a lowland tropical rainforest. Geography Montes Azules Biosphere reserve adjoins Lacan-Tun Bio ...

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, due to similar environmental conditions and resource management. The reserve protects

tropical wet forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discon ...

and coastal/

marine ecosystem Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surf ...

s. It surrounds the

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park Alejandro de Humboldt National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt) is a national park in the Cuban provinces of Holguín and Guantánamo. It is named after the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt who visited the island in 1800 a ...

and also contains El Yunque table mountain, the ''Infierno Creek'' with a waterfall, the Great Cave of

Moa Moa are extinct giant flightless birds native to New Zealand. The term has also come to be used for chicken in many Polynesian cultures and is found in the names of many chicken recipes, such as Kale moa and Moa Samoa. Moa or MOA may also refe ...

(''Gran Caverna de Moa'') and the Bay of Taco, north of

Conservation

The reserve was classified as

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Managed Resource Protected Area. It has a total area of , and its core area, the

, is sub-divided into 4 areas, called Cupeyal del Norte, Ojito de Agua, la Melba and Baracoa. Cuchillas del Toa was listed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in 1987. The reserve protects species such as the

(''Solenodon cubanus'', almiquí),

Cuban trogon The Cuban trogon or tocororo (''Priotelus temnurus'') is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae. It is endemic to Cuba, where it is also the national bird. Taxonomy and systematics The Cuban trogon shares its genus with the Hispaniolan ...

(''Priotelus temnurus'', Cuba's national bird),

Gundlach's hawk Gundlach's hawk (''Accipiter gundlachi'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is one of 21 Endemism, endemic bird species of Cuba. The common name and Latin binomial commemorate the German-Cuban ornithologist Juan Gundlac ...

(''Accipiter gundlachi'') and

Cuban green woodpecker The Cuban green woodpecker (''Xiphidiopicus percussus'') is a species of woodpecker in the family Picidae and tribe Melanerpini, known locally in Cuban Spanish as carpintero verde (literally "green woodpecker"). It is the only species within the ...

(''Xiphidiopicus percussus''), some endangered.

Protected areas

The different areas of the reserve have various uses, and are further divided into other protected areas, such as the proposed Ecological Reserve Quivijan-Duaba-Yunque de Baracoa and the Flora Managed Reserve of Pico Galan (Galan Peak)

References

{{Protected areas of Cuba Biosphere reserves of Cuba Mountains of Cuba Geography of Guantánamo Province Protected areas established in 1987 1987 establishments in Cuba

Overview

Conservation

Protected areas

See also

References