The Taquara Municipal Nature Park ( pt, Parque Natural Municipal da Taquara) is a municipal nature park in the state of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil. It protects an area of

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

Location

The Taquara Municipal Nature Park is in the municipality of

Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro Duque de Caxias (, ''Duke of Caxias'') is a city on Guanabara Bay and part of Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, southeastern Brazil. It is bordered by Rio de Janeiro city to the south. Its population was 924,624 (2020) and its area is 465&nbs ...

The park has an area of . It is at the foot of the Serra de Petrópolis. It is in the

Serra dos Órgãos The Serra dos Órgãos ("Organ Range") is a mountain range in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It contains the Serra dos Órgãos National Park. Location The Serra dos Órgãos is the name of the region of the Serra do Mar in the central pa ...

between the

Petrópolis Environmental Protection Area Petrópolis Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Proteção Ambiental da Região Serrana de Petrópolis) is a protected area of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Location The protected area in the Atlantic Forest biome, which covers , was c ...

and the

Tinguá Biological Reserve Tinguá Biological Reserve ( pt, Reserva Biológica do Tinguá) is a biological reserve in the Serra do Tinguá mountains, Rio de Janeiro state, eastern Brazil. Location The reserve, which covers , was created on 23 May 1989. It is administered ...

. There is good infrastructure for visitors, including trails that lead past the Taquara River and the Cachoeira das Dores (Waterfall of Sorrows). The park contains a remnant of

. The

golden lion tamarin The golden lion tamarin (''Leontopithecus rosalia'', pt, mico-leão-dourado , ), also known as the golden marmoset, is a small New World monkey of the family Callitrichidae. Native to the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil, the golden lion tam ...

was sighted by experts in 2006, several years after it had been declared extinct in the region. The park is home to birds including Brazilian tanager (''Ramphocelus bresilius''),

true thrush True thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus ''Turdus'' of the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name ''Turdus'' is Latin for "thrush". The term " thrush" is used for many other birds of the family T ...

(''Turdus'' species) and

blue-gray tanager The blue-gray tanager (''Thraupis episcopus'') is a medium-sized South American songbird of the tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. ...

(''Thraupis episcopus''), and mammals such as

coati Coatis, also known as coatimundis (), are members of the family Procyonidae in the genera ''Nasua'' and ''Nasuella''. They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States. The name "c ...

sloth Sloths are a group of Neotropical xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their li ...

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along wi ...

and many apes.

Visitors

The park supports the Guarda Florestal Mirim program, which gives environmental education to children. The park is visited by up to 4,000 people monthly, especially in summer. Of the visitors, 54% only had primary education, which may affect receptiveness to typical environmental education programs. Most of the visitors are young people, 81% male, from Taquara and its neighborhoods. The most common reason for visiting is to swim in the river or the waterfall.

History

The Taquara Municipal Nature Park was created by municipal law 1157 of 11 December 1992 to preserve the natural beauty of Caxias. The park was included in the

Central Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest Mosaic The Central Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest Mosaic ( pt, Mosaico da Mata Atlântica Central Fluminense is a protected area mosaic in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The mosaic is inland, to the east of the city of Rio de Janeiro. History A p ...

, created in December 2006.

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{authority control Municipal nature parks of Brazil Protected areas of Rio de Janeiro (state) 1992 establishments in Brazil