Tikal National Park is a national park located in Guatemala, in the northern region of the

Petén Department Petén is a department of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest by area at it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores. The population at the mid-2018 o ...

. Stretching across 57,600 hectares, it contains the ancient Mayan city of

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Co ...

and the surrounding tropical forests, savannas, and wetlands. In 1979, Tikal National Park was declared as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, because of the outstanding Mesoamerican ruins at Tikal and the unique ecology of the surrounding landscape.

History

"Project Tikal", as it was named at the time, was first proposed by the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1949. Founded on May 26, 1955, Tikal National Park was established under government decree by the Ministry of Education, via the

Instituto de Antropología e Historia The Instituto de Antropología e Historia (IDAEH, ''Institute of Anthropology and History'') is the national institute in Guatemala responsible for the protection and maintenance of Guatemala's historical and archaeological sites, monuments, art ...

, advised by Dr. Adolfo Molina Orantes and under the government of Carlos Castillo Armas. Once established, the

played a role in the park's cleaning, maintenance, excavation and restoration of the site from 1956 to 1969. Today, Tikal National Park's main tourist attraction is the classical, Mayan city

, which is surrounded by a dense, lush forest.

Ecology

Tikal National Park makes up part of the global

Man and the Biosphere Programme Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work engag ...

, within the

Maya Biosphere Reserve The Maya Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de la Biosfera Maya) is a nature reserve in Guatemala managed by Guatemala's National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP). The Maya Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 21,602 km², one-fifth of the c ...

. Because of its lush and varied ecosystem, many species of plants and animals thrive within the park boundaries. Five species of cats reside within the park, including the

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

and puma, along with several species of monkeys and anteaters. In addition, more than 300 species of birds are found in the park, including the

crane hawk The crane hawk (''Geranospiza caerulescens'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Geranospiza''. Taxonomy The crane hawk used to be many species that were recently lumped into one. Those ...

and the

ocellated turkey The ocellated turkey (''Meleagris ocellata'') is a species of turkey residing primarily in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, as well as in parts of Belize and Guatemala. A relative of the North American wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo''), it was ...

References

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External links

Guatemalan Government Official Site for Tikal
Ministry of Culture and Sports of Guatemala
Aproximación a la conservación arqueológica en Guatemala
Asociación Tikal {{in lang, es National parks of Guatemala World Heritage Sites in Guatemala Tikal