Pirapitinga Ecological Station ( pt, Estação Ecológica de Pirapitinga) is an ecological station in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, on an island in the lake formed by the

Três Marias Dam The Três Marias Dam, also known as Bernardo Mascarenhas, is an embankment dam on the São Francisco River near Três Marias in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was constructed for hydroelectric power production and flood control. The dam was completed ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

Location

The reserve has an area of in the

cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...

biome. It was created on 20 July 1987. It is managed by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...

. It is located in the municipality of

Morada Nova de Minas Morada Nova de Minas is a municipality in the north of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2020 the population was 8,910 in a total area of 2,085 km2. It became a municipality in 1943. Location Morada Nova de Minas belongs to the sta ...

in the state of Minas Gerais. When the reservoir of the Três Marias Dam was filled in 1962 the station purchased the island that was formed when the reservoir was full. It has an area of about and a perimeter of . The lake is above sea level. The highest point is above lake level. Average annual rainfall is . Temperature ranges from , with average of . Vegetation includes trees up to high, with scattered Mata Mesofílica species among the Savannah species. There are distinct layers of savannah vegetation: grasses, shrubs up to , trees from and trees over . Endemic fauna include

curl-crested jay The curl-crested jay (''Cyanocorax cristatellus'') is a jay from South America. This New World jay is a beautiful and large (35 cm/14 in overall) bird with predominantly dark blue back, an almost black head and neck, and snow-white chest an ...

(Cyanocorax cristatellus), peach-fronted parakeet (Eupsittula aurea),

shrike-like tanager The shrike-like tanager (''Neothraupis fasciata''), also known as the white-banded tanager, is a South American bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Neothraupis''. Taxonomy The shrike-like tanager was form ...

(Neothraupis fasciata),

white-eared puffbird The white-eared puffbird (''Nystalus chacuru'') is a species of bird in the Bucconidae family, the puffbirds. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Peru, where it inhabits tropical and subtropical dry forests, subtropical and tr ...

(Nystalus chacuru) and

red-bellied macaw The red-bellied macaw (''Orthopsittaca manilatus''), also known as ''Guacamaya Manilata'', is a medium-sized, mostly green South American parrot, a member of a group of large Neotropical parrots known as macaws. It is the largest of what are comm ...

(Orthopsittaca manilatus).

Conservation

The Ecological Station is a "strict nature reserve" under

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

Ia. It was created to protect the environment and support basic and applied ecological research and education in conservation. The station is a habitat for the near threatened

maned wolf The maned wolf (''Chrysocyon brachyurus'') is a large canine of South America. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay, and is almost extinct in Uruguay. Its markings resemble those of foxes, but it is neither a fox nor a w ...

and 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 ''Myrmecopha ...

References

Sources

* * * {{Ecological station (Brazil) 1987 establishments in Brazil Ecological stations of Brazil Protected areas of Minas Gerais Protected areas established in 1987 Cerrado