The Emas National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional das Emas, literally meaning " Rhea National Park") is a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

and a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

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 ...

in the states of

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiâ ...

and

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, and ...

in Brazil.

Description

The National Park is located between the states of

and

in the Center-West 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 ...

, between 17º50’—18º15’S and 52º39’—53º10’W. It covers of

cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the ...

savannah. The park is in the Pantanal Biosphere Reserve, which also includes the

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and ...

Chapada dos Guimarães Chapada dos Guimarães is a municipality located in central Brazil, 62 km from the city of Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the ...

and Serra da Bodoquena national parks, and the

Serra de Santa Bárbara Serra de Santa Bárbara is the peak of an inactive volcano in the western part of the island of Terceira, Azores, Portugal. At elevation, it is the highest point of the island. It is named after the village located on the coast to the south, Sa ...

, Nascentes do Rio Taquari and Pantanal de Rio Negro state parks. The surrounding area is dominated by large soybean plantations.

Flora and fauna

Emas National Park shows a typical

ecosystem; a treeless

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

with tall

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes ( eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blat ...

mounds and an interesting amount of wildlife: the

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 ''Myrmecophag ...

, the

maned wolf The maned wolf (''Chrysocyon brachyurus'') is a large canine of South America. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay, and is almost extinct in Uruguay. Its markings resemble those of foxes, but it is neither a fox nor a w ...

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 glyptodonts, were much larger). It live ...

, pampas deerFlavio H.G. Rodrigues, Leandro Silveira, Anah T .A. Jacomo, Ana Paula Carmignotto, Alexandra M.R. Bezerra, Daniela Cunha Coelho, Hamilton Garbogini, Juliana Pagnozzi, Adriani Hass. ''Composi~ao e caracteriza~ao da fauna de mamfferos do Parque Nacional das Emas, Goias, Brasil''.Revta bras. Zool. 19 (2): 589 – 600, 2002
online PDF
/ref> and the namesake

greater rhea The greater rhea (''Rhea americana'') is a species of flightless bird native to eastern South America. Other names for the greater rhea include the grey, common, or American rhea; ema (Portuguese); or ñandú ( Guaraní and Spanish). One of two ...

, among others. Emas National Park also holds a small

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 ...

population, perhaps consisting of about 10-12 animals. Only about 40% of the reserve, which covers in total, is good jaguar habitat.Thannya Nascimento Soares, Mariana P.C. Telles, Lucileide V. Resende, Leandro Silveira, Anah Tereza A. Jácomo, Ronaldo G. Morato, José Alexandre F. Diniz-Filho, Eduardo Eizirik, Rosana P.V. Brondani and Claudio Brondani: ''Paternity testing and behavioral ecology: A case study of jaguars (''Panthera onca'') in Emas National Park, Central Brazil''. Genetics and Molecular Biology, 29, 4, 735-740 (2006)
online PDF
/ref> Other larger mammals include puma,

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 southwe ...

Brazilian tapir The South American tapir (''Tapirus terrestris''), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi ''tapi'ira''), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, the ''anta'' ( Portuguese), and ''la sachavaca'' (literally "bushc ...

collared peccary The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae found in North, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the genus ''Dicotyles''. They are commonly referred to as ...

white-lipped peccary The white-lipped peccary (''Tayassu pecari'') is a species of peccary found in Central and South America and the only member of the genus ''Tayassu''. Multiple subspecies have been identified. White-lipped peccaries are similar in appearance ...

marsh deer The marsh deer (''Blastocerus dichotomus'') is the largest deer species from South America reaching a length of and a shoulder height of . It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Formerly found in much of tropical ...

red brocket The red brocket (''Mazama americana'') is a species of brocket deer from forests in South America, ranging from northern Argentina to Colombia and the Guianas. It also occurs on the Caribbean island of Trinidad (it also occurred on the island ...

, gray brocket,

black howler monkey The black howler (''Alouatta caraya'') or black-and-gold howler, is among the largest New World monkeys and a member of the ''Alouatta'' genus. The black howler is distributed in areas of South America such as Paraguay, southern Brazil, eastern ...

and

capybara The capybaraAlso called capivara (in Brazil), capiguara (in Bolivia), chigüire, chigüiro, or fercho (in Colombia and Venezuela), carpincho (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and ronsoco (in Peru). or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydro ...

References

Sources

External links

Bioluminescencia Parque das Emasconselho consultivo
{{authority control National parks of Brazil World Heritage Sites in Brazil Protected areas of Goiás Protected areas of Mato Grosso do Sul Cerrado