Chiribiquete National Natural Park ( es, Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Serranía de Chiribiquete) is the largest national park in Colombia and the largest

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

national park in the world. It was established on 21 September 1989 and has been expanded twice, first in August 2013 and then in July 2018. The park occupies about and includes the Serranía de Chiribiquete

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

s and the surrounding lowlands, which are covered by

tropical moist forests 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, discont ...

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

s and

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

History

Chiribiquete National Natural Park was established on 21 September 1989. The park was expanded from the previous to on 21 August 2013. Colombian president

Juan Manuel Santos Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. An economist by profession and a journalist by trade ...

announced that Chiribiquete National Park would be expanded by on 21 February 2018. The park was expanded to and declared a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

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 ...

on 2 July 2018.

Rock art

The region is incredibly biodiverse and hosts a diverse array of rock art. More than 600,000 traces of over 75,000 petroglyphs and

pictograph A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...

s have been made by indigenous people on the walls of the 60 rock shelters from 20,000 BCE, and are still made nowadays by the uncontacted peoples protected by the National Park. The rock art was produced until the 16th century. Some of the paintings were first photographed by

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

Jaime Galvis between 1986 and 1987. Further research was carried out by Carlos Castaños, former director of the National Natural Parks System of Colombia, and Dutch geologist and

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Thomas van der Hammen Thomas van der Hammen ( Schiedam, Netherlands, 27 September 1924 - Chía, Colombia, 12 March 2010) was a Dutch palaeontologist, botanist and geologist. He had published more than 160 works in five languages. British wildlife filmmaker

Mike Slee Michael John Slee (born 23 August 1959) is a British film-maker, producer/director and writer. Life and career Born in Windlesham, Surrey, Slee studied Art & Design at Kingston University, and graduated with a first class honours degree from the ...

and Colombian photographer and explorer Francisco Forero Bonell photographed and filmed the rock paintings on the vertical rock faces within the park in 2014.

Gallery

Geography

Chiribiquete National Park is located in the northwest of the Colombian Amazon in the departments of Caquetá and Guaviare. It is in the jurisdictions of the municipalities of Solano,

Cartagena del Chairá Cartagena del Chairá () is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Caquetá. The town gained notoriety during the failed FARC-Government peace process (1999-2002) between the Government of Colombia and the guerrilla group Revolut ...

and

San Vicente del Caguán San Vicente del Caguán () is a town and municipality in Amazonian Caquetá Department, southern Colombia. Religion Its Marian Catedral Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes (dedicated to the Virgin of Mercy) is the cathedral episcopal see of t ...

in Caquetá, and Calamar and

San José del Guaviare San José del Guaviare () is a town and municipality in Colombia, capital of the department of Guaviare by the Guaviare River The Guaviare is a tributary of the Orinoco in Colombia. It flows together with the upper Orinoco (until here also ca ...

in Guaviare. It is bordered by the Tunia River (Macaya River) in the northeast, which forms the Apaporís River after its confluence with the Ajaju River at a point called Dos Ríos. The park's boundaries are formed by the Apaporís, Gunaré and Amú Rivers in the east, the Mesay and Yari Rivers in the south, and the Hiutoto, Tajisa, Ajaju and Ayaya Rivers in the west. Chiribiquete National Park is situated in the western region of the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (french: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; nl, Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; pt, Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; es, Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a ...

, east of the Eastern Cordillera, north of the Amazonian plains, west of the Upper Río Negro, and south of the

s of the Orinoquía. Elevations in the park range from about 200 to 1,000

metres above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The c ...

. It contains geological formations that are made up of plateaus and steep rocky structures. The formations are divided into three different sections: the Northern Massif, the Central Massif and Iguaje Messas. The park is well known for its tepuis, table-top mountains that abruptly rise from the forest. The mountain ridge of Chiribiquete is an important remnant of the rocky chain belonging to the Precambrian and

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

formations that make up the Guiana Shield.

Biogeographically Biogeography is the study of the species distribution, distribution of species and ecosystems in geography, geographic space and through evolutionary history of life, geological time. Organisms and biological community (ecology), communities of ...

, Chiribiquete is located in the

Guyanas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * G ...

. It contains many different

biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

s, including flooded savannas and

forests A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, tropical savannas, shrublands and tropical moist forests.

Hydrology

Chiribiquete National Park contains the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s of the Mesay, Cuñare, San Jorge and Amú Rivers. Most of the rivers in the park are tributaries of the

Caquetá River Caquetá may refer to: * Caquetá River, a river in Colombia * Caquetá Territory, a former territory of Colombia * Caquetá Department Caquetá Department () is a department of Colombia. Located in the Amazonas region, Caquetá borders wit ...

, which is in turn a tributary of the Amazon River. Many of the rivers are called

blackwater river A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black tea ...

s because their waters have a dark colour due to the leeching of sediments from the surrounding soil.

Climate

Chiribiquete National Natural Park has a tropical climate and gets about 4,500 mm of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

per year. The park has high levels of cloud cover due to the geographic orientation of the Serranía de Chiribiquete mountains. Rainfall is lowest between December and February, and highest between April and July. The annual average temperature is with strong fluctuations between day and night. During the dry months, temperatures can rise to during the day, and fall to at night. The temperature difference between the lower and higher altitudes of the park is also very high. Temperatures can reach in the lower altitudes and drop to in the higher altitudes. The average humidity is 40% at daytime and rises to 100% at nighttime.

Flora

Chiribiquete is home to 30% of the ecosystems and flora of the Colombian Amazon, and researchers have discovered 1,801 plant species in the park to date. The tropical moist forests of Chiribiquete are highly developed and can reach great heights, with certain trees growing up to . The most common trees are the Amazon tree-grape (''Pourouma cecropiifolia''),

guamo Guamo is a town and municipality in the Tolima department of Colombia. The population of the municipality was 30,516 as of the 2018 census. References Municipalities of Tolima Department {{Tolima-geo-stub ...

(''Inga acrocephala''), ucuuba (''Virola sebifera''), syringe tree (''Hevea guianensis'') and capinuri (''Pseudolmedia laevis''). The undergrowth is very dense and host to a wide variety of parasitic and epiphytic plants. In the mountains, thickets of shrubs measuring between can be found growing on sandy soil. Places with sparse soil cover, like waterfalls and rocky surfaces, are home to many

endemic 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 else ...

plants, including the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Senefelderopsis'', ''

Hevea nitida ''Hevea nitida'' is a species of rubber tree in the genus ''Hevea'', belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae. It is a medium-sized evergreen tree up to tall. It is native to the rainforests of northern Brazil and Colombia. Description ''H. nitid ...

'' var. ''toxicodendroides'', ''Graffenrieda fantastica'' and ''Vellozia tubiflora''.

Fauna

Researchers have discovered 209

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

species, 238

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

species, 57 amphibian species, 60 reptile species, over 410

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

species and 82 mammal species in Chiribiquete to date, many of which are threatened and endemic to the region. The region is known for hosting high levels of endemism of amphibians and freshwater fish. It also hosts about 30% of the Colombian Amazon's

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

diversity and 10% of the country's butterfly diversity.

Birds

The most notable birds in Chiribiquete are the

Guianan cock-of-the-rock The Guianan cock-of-the-rock (''Rupicola rupicola'') is a species of cotinga, a passerine bird from South America. It is about in length and weighs about . It is found in tropical rainforests, near its preferred habitat of rocky outcrops. The ...

scarlet macaw The scarlet macaw (''Ara macao'') is a large red, yellow, and blue Central and South American parrot, a member of a large group of Neotropical parrots called macaws. It is native to humid evergreen forests of the Neotropics. Its range extends from ...

green-and-rufous kingfisher The green-and-rufous kingfisher (''Chloroceryle inda'') is a species of "water kingfisher" in subfamily Cerylinae of family Alcedinidae. It is found in the American tropics from Nicaragua to Panama and in every mainland South American countr ...

, Amazon kingfisher,

ringed kingfisher The ringed kingfisher (''Megaceryle torquata'') is a large, conspicuous and noisy kingfisher bird commonly found along the lower Rio Grande valley in southeasternmost Texas in the United States through Central America to Tierra del Fuego in Sout ...

rufous motmot The rufous motmot (''Baryphthengus martii'') is a near-passerine bird in the family Momotidae. It is found from northeastern Honduras south to western Ecuador, northern Bolivia, and western Brazil.Master, T. L. (2020). Rufous Motmot (''Barypht ...

oilbird The oilbird (''Steatornis caripensis''), locally known as the , is a bird species found in the northern areas of South America including the Caribbean island of Trinidad. It is the only species in the genus ''Steatornis'', the family Steatornith ...

, and the endemic Chiribiquete emerald hummingbird. Other notable birds in the park are several species of

tinamou Tinamous () form an order of birds called Tinamiformes (), comprising a single family called Tinamidae (), divided into two distinct subfamilies, containing 46 species found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The word "tinamou" come ...

s, curassows in the genus Crax, and motmots in the genus

Momotus ''Momotus'' is a small genus of the motmots, a family of near passerine birds found in forest and woodland of the Neotropics. They have a colourful plumage, which is green on the back becoming blue on the flight feathers and the long tails. The b ...

. The

harpy eagle The harpy eagle (''Harpia harpyja'') is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the ...

and

speckled chachalaca The speckled chachalaca (''Ortalis guttata'') is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, and curassows. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. ...

can also be commonly seen in the park.

Mammals

Researchers have discovered 52 species of bats in Chiribiquete to date, which represents about 30% of the Colombia Amazon's bat diversity. Notable bats include dog-like bats,

mouse-eared bat The mouse-eared bats or myotises are a diverse and widespread genus (''Myotis'') of bats within the family Vespertilionidae. The noun "''myotis''" itself is a New Latin construction, from the Greek "''muós'' (meaning "mouse") and "''oûs''" (mea ...

bulldog bat The bat family Noctilionidae, commonly known as bulldog bats or fishing bats, is represented by two extant species, the greater and the lesser bulldog bats, as well as at least one fossil species, '' Noctilio lacrimaelunaris'', from the Miocene ...

s, short-tailed fruit bats, and the

Marinkelle's sword-nosed bat Marinkelle's sword-nosed bat (''Lonchorhina marinkellei'') is a bat species found in Colombia. In 2013, Bat Conservation International listed this species as one of the 35 species of its worldwide priority list of conservation. Its species name ...

. Some of the carnivorans in the park are the

giant otter The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of muste ...

, neotropical otter, ocelot, cougar and jaguar. The park is home to 8 species of primates, including the

white-fronted capuchin White-fronted capuchin can refer to any of a number of species of gracile capuchin monkey which used to be considered as the single species ''Cebus albifrons''. White-fronted capuchins are found in seven different countries in South America: Bo ...

tufted capuchin The tufted capuchin (''Sapajus apella''), also known as brown capuchin, black-capped capuchin, or pin monkey is a New World primate from South America and the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Margarita. As traditionally defined, it is one of th ...

common squirrel monkey Common squirrel monkey is the traditional common name for several small squirrel monkey species native to the tropical areas of South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern ...

Spix's night monkey Spix's night monkey (''Aotus vociferans''), also known as the Colombian gray night monkey, noisy night monkey and Spix's owl monkey, is a night monkey species from South America. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The Spix's nigh ...

brown woolly monkey The common woolly monkey, brown woolly monkey, or Humboldt's woolly monkey (''Lagothrix lagothricha'') is a woolly monkey from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Venezuela. It lives in groups of two to 70 individuals, usually splitting ...

and Venezuelan red howler monkey. It is also home to armadillos in the genus Dasypus, the

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters, of which it is the largest member. The only extant member of the genus ''Myrmecophag ...

black agouti The black agouti (''Dasyprocta fuliginosa'') is a South American species of agouti from the family Dasyproctidae. Distribution and habitat It is found in the northwestern Amazon in southern Venezuela, eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, western ...

lowland paca The lowland paca (''Cuniculus paca''), also known as the spotted paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from east-central Mexico to northern Argentina, and has been introduced to Cuba and Algeria. The animal is cal ...

Amazon river dolphin The Amazon river dolphin (''Inia geoffrensis''), also known as the boto, bufeo or pink river dolphin, is a species of toothed whale classified in the family Iniidae. Three subspecies are currently recognized: ''I. g. geoffrensis'' (Amazon river ...

white-lipped peccary The white-lipped peccary (''Tayassu pecari'') is a species of peccary found in Central and South America and the only member of the genus ''Tayassu''. Multiple subspecies have been identified. White-lipped peccaries are similar in appearance to ...

and

Brazilian tapir The South American tapir (''Tapirus terrestris''), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi ''tapi'ira''), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, the ''anta'' (Portuguese), and ''la sachavaca'' (literally "bushco ...

References

External links

Chiribiquete National Park on colparques.net
{{authority control National parks of Colombia Geography of Guaviare Department Geography of Caquetá Department Protected areas established in 1989 World Heritage Sites in Colombia Rock art in South America