Amazônia National Park
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The Amazônia National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional da Amazônia) was created in 1974, as a
national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
comprising 1,070,737 ha. It is situated in
Itaituba Itaituba is a city and municipality located in the state of Pará, Brazil, and one of the most important socioeconomic centers in the western region of the State. Location Itaituba is the fifteenth largest city (by population) in the State of ...
and Trairão municipalities,
Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...
state, in the north region of
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 ...
. It is located in the watershed of the
Tapajós River The Tapajós ( pt, Rio Tapajós ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. It is one of the largest cle ...
, about halfway between
Manaus Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...
and
Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in t ...
. It has expanded since its inception and now covers . It is a very
biodiverse Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...
habitat and contains a wide range of animals and plants. The specific objectives of the park are the preservation of various Amazonic
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
s, through scientific, educational and recreational means.


Geography

The park lies on either side of the Tapajós River. The habitat is dense lowland rain forest and there are areas of white-sand grasslands beside the upper reaches of the Tapajós. This river rises in the
Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
crystalline shields area of ancient
igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main The three types of rocks, rock types, the others being Sedimentary rock, sedimentary and metamorphic rock, metamorphic. Igneous rock ...
and carries little sediment. The river acts as a barrier so that some of the animals and plants on one bank are not found on the other. The first base in the park is about from Itaituba, and there is some illegal cutting of timber and gold mining in the eastern parts closest to Itaituba and Trairão. To the west the park adjoins the Pau-Rosa National Forest, created in 2001. The proposed
South Amazon Ecological Corridor The South Amazon Ecological Corridor ( pt, Corredor Sul da Amazônia) is a proposed ecological corridor connecting conservation units and indigenous territories in the southeast of the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. Background The first version o ...
would link the park to other protected areas and indigenous territories in the region.


History

The Amazônia National Park was created by federal decree 73.683 of 19 February 1974. Its limits were altered by decree on 18 January 1985. The management plan was published on 31 December 1988, but was not made official at that time. The consultative council was created on 26 November 2004. The limits of the park were altered on 13 February 2006 and again on 12 August 2011. Law 12678 of 25 June 2012 amended the limits of the Amazônia, Campos Amazônicos and
Mapinguari Mpinguari or Mpinguary, (also called the ''Juma'') are monsterous jungle-dwelling spirits from Brazilian folklore. Description There are two major depictions of it. Some described them as a hairy humanoid cyclops. This version is often said t ...
national parks, the Itaituba I, Itaituba II and Crepori national forests and the
Tapajós Environmental Protection Area The Tapajós Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Proteção Ambiental do Tapajós) is an environmental protection area in the state of Pará, Brazil. Location The Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA) is divided between the munic ...
. All of these were reduced in size except the Campos Amazônicos. This last alteration reduced the area of the park to .


Flora and fauna

Except for about 2% of more open forest, the whole park consists of dense humid tropical forest. The larger trees reach a height of about , and the light filtering through the canopy is sufficient to produce a biodiverse understorey of vines, lichens, mosses and orchids. Many of the mammals in the park are nocturnal, and some such as the
giant otter The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of musteli ...
,
Amazonian manatee The Amazonian manatee (''Trichechus inunguis'') is a species of manatee that lives in the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. It has thin, wrinkled brownish or gray colored skin, with fine hairs scattered over its body and a whit ...
and
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 ...
are endangered. There are also large numbers of reptiles, fish and other aquatic creatures.


Visiting the park

The park can be reached from the city of Itaituba. The Transpantaneira runs from east to west through the park but does not really live up to its name. The road is paved as far as Itaituba but other parts are unpaved earth roads topped with gravel that deteriorate during the rainy season, November to April, and need much repair work each May and June. The park can be accessed from
Santarém, Pará Santarém () is a city and municipality in the western part of the state of Pará in Brazil. Located at the confluence of the Tapajós and Amazon Rivers, it has become a popular tourist destination. It is the second-most important city in the stat ...
, which is at the confluence of the Tapajós with the
Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...
. Santarém has an airport. Any roads usually require four-wheel-drive vehicles and river transport is normally used in this region.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amazonia National Park National parks of Brazil Protected areas of Pará Protected areas established in 1974 1974 establishments in Brazil