Cojedes River

The Cojedes River (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

''Rio Cojedes'') is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

in central

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. The Cojedes originates in

Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los Infa ...

state, and flows southeast through a gap between the

Cordillera de Mérida The Cordillera de Mérida is a series of mountain ranges, or massif, in northwestern Venezuela. The Cordillera de Mérida is a northeastern extension of the Andes Mountains and the most important branch of the Venezuelan Andes. The ranges run sou ...

and the Cordillera de la Costa and across the

Llanos The Llanos (Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, sav ...

grasslands of the Orinoco Basin to empty into the Apure River, which flows east to join the Orinoco. The river drains portions of the states of Lara,

Yaracuy Yaracuy State ( es, link=no, Estado Yaracuy, ;) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It is bordered by Falcón in the north, in the west by Lara, in the south by Portuguesa and Cojedes and in the east by Cojedes and Carabobo. Its geography ...

, Portuguesa, Cojedes, Barinas, and

Guárico ) , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Guárico'' , image_map = Guarico in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_a ...

. This river maintains the main

Orinoco crocodile The Orinoco crocodile (''Crocodylus intermedius'') is a critically endangered crocodile. Its population is very small, and they can only be found in the Orinoco river basin in Colombia and Venezuela. Extensively hunted for their skins in the 19 ...

(''Crocodylus intermedius'') population in Venezuela and therefore of the entire world. In the near future, sections of this river will be declared as wildlife reserve to protect the nesting sites of this species, classified as critically endangered. As part of the Orinoco crocodile Conservation Program in Venezuela, between the years 2005 and 2007, have been reintroduced in the Cojedes river, 361 young crocodiles breed in captivity during at least one year, in order to increase their survival probabilities. As in many other Venezuelan localities, the release of captive bred Orinoco crocodiles in the Cojedes river is intended to reinforce in the long term the reproductive populations of this species. Rivers of Venezuela Orinoco basin {{Venezuela-river-stub