The Tamá Massif ( es, Macizo del Tamá) is a group of mountains on the border between Colombia and Venezuela to the south of

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo (Spanish: Lago de Maracaibo; Anu: Coquivacoa) is a lagoon in northwestern Venezuela, the largest lake in South America and one of the oldest on Earth, formed 36 million years ago in the Andes Mountains. The fault in the northern se ...

. It contains evergreen rainforest and

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 ...

at the lower levels, and

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

s (high moors) at the highest levels.

Location

The Tamá is a prolongation of the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes. It is separated from 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 south ...

in the

Venezuelan Andes The Venezuelan Andes (Spanish: ''Andes Venezolanos'') also simply known as the Andes (Spanish: ''Los Andes'') in Venezuela, are a mountain system that form the northernmost extension of the Andes. They are fully identified, both by their geologic ...

by the

Táchira depression The Táchira Depression ( es, Depresión de Táchira) is a saddle of land connecting the Lake Maracaibo basin to the Orinoco basin in the state of Táchira, Venezuela. It forms a break in the eastern Andes, separating the Tamá Massif to the wes ...

, which more than 50 million years ago was a strait that connected

with the

Orinoco 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 ...

basin. Elevations range from . Average annual temperature is . Average annual rainfall is . The

Tamá National Natural Park The Tamá National Natural Park ( es, Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Tamá) is a national park located in the Tamá Massif of the Andean Region of Colombia, between the municipalities Toledo and Herrán, in the department of Norte de Santander ...

in Colombia and the El Tamá National Park in Venezuela protect parts of the Tamá Massif. The two parks together form a protected area of .

Geography

The Tamá massif is a set of folded mountain ranges with extremely steep topography. It contains the El Tamá páramos (high moors) at an elevation of , Cerro El Cobre at and Cerro Judío at . The mountains are mainly of limestone or sandstone rock, typical 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 ...

. The Tamá National Natural Park contains an waterfall one of the world's highest. The páramos give rise to rivers such as the Carapo, Chiquito, Quinimarí, Quite, Burguita, Burga, Nula, Nulital,

Sarare Sarare is a town in the Venezuelan state of Lara. It is the seat of the Simón Planas Municipality. The town and surroundings have about 12535 inhabitants. It is located on the shores of the Sarare River, which flows into the Orinoco The Ori ...

, Cutufí, Oirá, Frío and Negro, which drain into the Orinoco basin or into Lake Maracaibo. The

Táchira River The Táchira River is a river located in Táchira and it divides the border that exists between Venezuela and Colombia in that western state. The Simón Bolívar International Bridge across the Táchira River connects the city of San Antonio del ...

, which drains into Lake Maracaibo, forms part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela.

Environment

Tamá has four types of natural environments: tropical rainforest, sub-Andean forest, Andean forest and

. The forests are included in the

Venezuelan Andes montane forests The Venezuelan Andes montane forests (NT0175) is an ecoregion in the northern arm of the Andes in Venezuela. It contains montane and cloud forests, reaching up to the high-level Cordillera de Merida páramo high moor ecoregion. The forests are home ...

ecoregion, which also covers the Venezuelan Andean cordillera. The vegetation between is dense evergreen rainforest of medium height with two or three arboreal strata. There is a well-developed understory and many

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

s. Forest species include the colorful '' Lagenanthus princeps''. In the páramos the plant species are of the genera ''

Jamesonia ''Jamesonia'' is a genus of ferns in the subfamily Pteridoideae of the family Pteridaceae. It now includes the formerly separate genus ''Eriosorus''. Description Species of ''Jamesonia'' are terrestrial or grow on rocks. They vary considerably ...

'', '' Oreobulus'', ''

Castilleja ''Castilleja'', commonly known as paintbrush, Indian paintbrush, or prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one ...

'', ''

Gentiana ''Gentiana'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With about 400 species it is considered a large genus. They are notable for their mostl ...

'', '' Halenia'', ''

Pinguicula ''Pinguicula'', commonly known as the butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition ...

'', ''

Utricularia ''Utricularia'', commonly and collectively called the bladderworts, is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of approximately 233 species (precise counts differ based on classification opinions; a 2001 publication lists 215 species).Salmon, Br ...

'', '' Castratella'' and ''

Vaccinium ''Vaccinium'' is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whort ...

''. Mammals include the spectacled bear (''Tremarctos ornatus''),

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inhabit ...

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 ...

(''Cuniculus paca''),

anteater Anteater is a common name for the four extant mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue") commonly known for eating ants and termites. The individual species have other names in English and other languages. Together with ...

and

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''). The endemic

wood sprite gracile opossum The wood sprite gracile opossum (''Gracilinanus dryas'') is a mammal. It is a species of opossum in the family Didelphidae. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is thre ...

(''Gracilinanus dryas'') and Luis Manuel's tailless bat (''Anoura luismanueli'') are found in both the Andean Cordillera and the Tamá Massif. Restricted range bird species in the Tamá massif include Táchira antpitta (''Grallaria chthonia''), hooded antpitta (''Grallaricula cucullata'') and Venezuelan wood quail (''Odontophorus columbianus''). Tamá harlequin frog and Helena's marsupial frog are

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 elsew ...

to the Páramo de Tamá.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tama Massif Mountain ranges of the Andes Mountain ranges of Venezuela Mountain ranges of Colombia