The Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve ( pt, Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá) in the

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 ...

ian state of Amazonas, near the city of Tefé, is a reserve near the village of Boca do Mamirauá. It includes mostly Amazonian flooded forest and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

s. The

ribeirinhos The ribeirinhos are a traditional population in South America, who live near rivers. Their main activities are fishing and farming on a small scale, for their own use. They usually live in pile dwelling and travel by motor boats called voa ...

are native to the area.

Location

The Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve is divided between the municipalities of

Uarini Uarini is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. According to estimates of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), its population was 13,690 inhabitants in 2020. Its area is 10,246 km2. The municipalit ...

(18.68%), Tonantins (1.24%), Maraã (26.74%), Japurá (1.33%) and Fonte Boa (52.01%) in the state of Amazonas. It has an area of . It covers the elongated triangle between the

Solimões River Solimões () is the name often given to upper stretches of the Amazon River in Brazil from its confluence with the Rio Negro upstream to the border of Peru. Geography The Amazon / Solimões river just above the confluence of the Solimões and ...

(Upper Amazon) to the south, the Auati-Paraná Canal, which leaves the Solimões and meanders in a generally eastward direction to join the

Japurá River The Japurá River or Caquetá River is a river about long in the Amazon basin. It rises in Colombia and flows eastward through Brazil to join the Amazon River. Course The river rises as the Caquetá River in the Andes in southwest Colombia. ...

to the north, and the Japurá from the junction with the Auati-Paraná to the point where it joins the Solimões. It adjoins the Auatí-Paraná Extractive Reserve to the north. The

Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve ( pt, Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Amanã) is a sustainable development reserve in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. Location The Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) covers in the north-c ...

lies on the opposite bank of the Japurá to the east.

Protection

Mamirauá is recognised by the international

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It ...

, as a wetland of global importance, as well as part of a World Heritage Convention's natural site. At present, it is included in one of the ecological corridors to be implemented by the PPG-7 Program for the Protection of Brazilian Tropical Forests.

Jaú National Park The Jaú National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional do Jaú) is a national park located in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. It is one of the largest forest reserve in South America, and part of a World Heritage Site. Location The name "Jaú" comes from ...

was inscribed by

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 ...

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 ...

in 2000. It became part of the

Central Amazon Ecological Corridor The Central Amazon Ecological Corridor ( pt, Corredor Ecológico Central da Amazônia) is an ecological corridor in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, that connects a number of conservation units in the Amazon rainforest. The objective is to maintai ...

, established in 2002. In 2003 the property was expanded by the addition of the

Anavilhanas National Park Anavilhanas National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional de Anavilhanas) is a national park that encompasses a huge river archipelago in the Rio Negro in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. It is part of a World Heritage Site. Location The park is in the mu ...

and Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve to form the Central Amazon Conservation Complex, a larger World Heritage Site. The reserve is the legacy and life work of Brazilian scientist

José Márcio Ayres José Márcio Corrêa Ayres (February 21, 1954 – March 7, 2003) was a Brazilian primatologist and conservationist who founded the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve in 1996, followed by the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve in 199 ...

. Mamirauá has a human population estimated in 6,306 individuals, including amazonian

caboclo A caboclo () is a person of mixed Indigenous Brazilian and European ancestry, or, less commonly, a culturally assimilated or detribalized person of full Amerindian descent. In Brazil, a ''caboclo'' generally refers to this specific type of '' ...

Ticuna The Ticuna (also Magüta, Tucuna, Tikuna, or Tukuna) are an indigenous people of Brazil (36,000'')'', Colombia (6,000), and Peru (7,000). They are the most numerous tribe in the Brazilian Amazon. History The Ticuna were originally a tribe that ...

Cambeba The Omagua people (also known as the Umana, Cambeba, and Kambeba) are an indigenous people in Brazil's Amazon Basin. Their territory, when first in contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century, was on the Amazon River upstream from the pres ...

and Cocama Amerindian groups. Marirauá also protects against the illegal hunting of caiman crocodiles, an endangered species due to human hunting for the sale of their skins. Saimiri vanzolinii Mamiraua

Wildlife

The reserve is in the Solimões-Japurá moist forests and

Purus várzea The Purus várzea (NT0156) is an ecoregion of seasonally flooded várzea forest in the central Amazon basin. It is part of the Amazon biome. The ecoregion is home to a vegetation adapted to floods of up to that may last for eight months. There is ...

eco regions. There are two endemic primates, the white uakari (''Cacajao calvus calvus'') and black-head squirrel monkey (''Saimiri vanzolinii''). The reserve is also home of other kinds primates, such as the Juruá red howler monkey, the

Peruvian spider monkey The Peruvian spider monkey (''Ateles chamek''), also known as the black-faced black spider monkey, is a species of spider monkey that lives in Peru, as well as in Brazil and in Bolivia. At long, they are relatively large among species of monkey, ...

pygmy marmoset Pygmy marmosets are two species of small New World monkeys in the genus ''Cebuella''. They are native to rainforests of the western Amazon Basin in South America. These primates are notable for being the smallest monkeys in the world, at just ov ...

s and saki monkeys. The reserve also harbours other arboreal mammals species such as the

brown-throated sloth The brown-throated sloth (''Bradypus variegatus'') is a species of three-toed sloth found in the Neotropical realm of Central and South America. It is the most common of the four species of three-toed sloth, and is found in the forests of South ...

, the

South American coati The South American coati (''Nasua nasua''), also known as the ring-tailed coati, is a coati species and a member of the raccoon family (Procyonidae), found in the tropical and subtropical parts of South America. An adult generally weighs from a ...

, the

northern Amazon red squirrel The northern Amazon red squirrel (''Sciurus igniventris'') is a squirrel species from South America. It occurs in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link= ...

and the collared anteater. Land mammals are not that common as most of the territory is flooded during the wet season, although

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 ...

s may reside and remain in the forest even during flooding. Mamirauá hosts a large diversity of birds, with more than 400 species recorded, including

toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five g ...

s, harpy eagle,

hoatzin The hoatzin ( ) or hoactzin ( ), (''Opisthocomus hoazin''), is the only species in the order Opisthocomiformes. It is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riparian forests, and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco basins in South Ameri ...

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...

s and, specially, aquatic birds. The most conspicuous fish species are tambaqui,

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, f ...

and

pirarucu The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche is any large species of bonytongue in the genus ''Arapaima'' native to the Amazon and Essequibo basins of South America. ''Arapaima'' is the type genus of the subfamily Arapaiminae within the family Osteoglos ...

. Mamirauá is also a perfect place to spot the Amazon river dolphins, both

boto Boto is a Portuguese name given to several types of dolphins and river dolphins native to the Amazon and the Orinoco River tributaries. A few botos exist exclusively in fresh water, and these are often considered primitive dolphins. Classificatio ...

and tucuxi.

References

Sources

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Location

Protection

Wildlife

See also

References

Sources

Further reading