The Serra das Confusões National Park () is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in the state of

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

, Brazil.

Geography

The Serra das Confusões National Park is in the municipalities of Alvorada do Gurguéia, Brejo do Piauí, Bom Jesus,

Canto do Buriti Canto do Buriti is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the states of Brazil, state of Piauí in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of Brazil. The municipality contains part of the Serra das Confusões National Park, created in ...

Caracol Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau, ...

, Cristino Castro, Guaribas, Jurema, Santa Luz and Tamboril do Piauí in the state of Piauí. It has an area of .

Geomorphology

The park lies in the Piauí-Maranhão sedimentary basin plateau, a section of the Parnaíba basin that has been uplifted. Bedrock geology is mostly sandstone and shale ranging from Devonian to Triassic origin. The terrain is relatively flat, containing sandstone plateaus and adjacent depressions of the Parnaíba depression. Altitudes range from with an average altitude of . The lower portions are more rugged, with rocky outcrops holding small caves and springs of water. The intermittent Itaueira River rises in the park.

Climate

Average annual rainfall is . Temperatures range from with an average of .

Ecology

The park is in the

Caatinga Caatinga () is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" comes from the Tupi word '' ka'atinga'', meaning "white forest" or "white vegetat ...

biome. There are rainforest trees in the lower areas reaching in height. Higher up the trees average about . The wetter valleys hold

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...

s and

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s with occasional giant trees. 13 of the 18 endemic Caatinga species of fauna have been identified. Surveys have found three new species of

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

, one new

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

and one new

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

. Protected species in the park include the

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

(''Panthera onca''),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

(''Puma concolor''),

giant armadillo The giant armadillo (''Priodontes maximus''), colloquially ''tatu-canastra'', ''tatou'', ''ocarro'' or ''tatú carreta'', is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the Glyptodontidae, glyptodonts, were much l ...

(''Priodontes maximus''), Brazilian three-banded armadillo (''Tolypeutes tricinctus''), white-browed guan (''Penelope jacucaca'') and bearded bellbird (''Procnias averano'').

Administrative history

The Serra das Confusões National Park was created by federal decree on 2 October 1998, and is administered 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 a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

. The park is classed as

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 ...

II (national park). The objective is to preserve a natural ecosystem of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty, and to support scientific research, environmental education and interpretation, outdoors recreation and ecotourism. The Capivara-Confusões Ecological Corridor, created in 2006, links the park to the

Serra da Capivara National Park Serra da Capivara National Park ( Portuguese: ''Parque Nacional Serra da Capivara'', ) is a national park in the Northeastern region of Brazil. The area has many prehistoric paintings. The name of the mountain range that defines the park, "Serr ...

Gallery

File:Confusões.jpg , File:Serra das Confusões 01.jpg , File:Parque Nacional da Serra das Confusões - 03.jpg , File:Serra das Confusões - Caracol.jpg , File:Construções rochosas , caracol.jpg ,

Notes

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Serra das Confusoes National Park 1998 establishments in Brazil National parks of Brazil Protected areas of Piauí Caatinga