Sempre Vivas National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional das Sempre-Vivas) is 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 ...

in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Location

The park is in the Cerrado biome. It covers . It was created on 13 December 2002 and is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation. It covers parts of the municipalities of

Bocaiúva Bocaiuva is a Brazilian municipality located in the northwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was 50,256 people living in a total area of 3,232 km2. The city belongs to the mesoregion of North of Minas and to the microregion o ...

Buenópolis Buenópolis is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was 10,353 living in a total area of 1,610 km². The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion of Central Mineira and to the sta ...

Diamantina Diamantina may refer to: Geography Australia * Diamantina Bowen (1833-1893), ''grande dame'' of Queensland and the wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland. * ''Diamantina Cocktail'', 1976 album by Little River Band * Diam ...

and

Olhos-d'Água Olhos-d'Água is a Brazilian municipality located in the north of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 was 6,171 people living in a total area of 2,086 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of North of Minas and to the ...

in Minais Gerais. The park became part of the

Espinhaço Mosaic The Espinhaço: Alto Jequitinhonha – Serra do Cabral Mosaic ( pt, Mosaico do Espinhaço: Alto Jequitinhonha - Serra do Cabral), or simply Espinhaço Mosaic, is a protected area mosaic in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Background The Espin ...

of conservation units, created in 2010.

Environment

Altitudes range from . The park is in the Serras do Espinhaço Meridional. It forms part of the watershed between the Jequitinhonha River and

São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon, the Paraná and t ...

, which it feeds from about 600 springs. Average annual rainfall is . Temperatures range from with an average of . The park has well-preserved examples of varied types of vegetation including cerrado woodland and fields, seasonal semi-deciduous forest, swamp forest, streams, lagoons and riparian vegetation. These support a wide range of plant species. There are four endemic species of amphibians: Bokermannohyla saxicola, Lanceback Treefrog (''Scinax curicica''),

Pseudopaludicola mineira ''Pseudopaludicola mineira'' is a species of frog in the family Leptodactylidae. It is endemic to Brazil. Its natural habitats are moist savanna, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland ...

and

Thoropa megatympanum ''Thoropa megatympanum'' is a species of frog in the family Cycloramphidae. It is endemic to Brazil. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, rivers, and rocky areas. It is threatened by habita ...

. There are two endemic bird species:

hyacinth visorbearer The hyacinth visorbearer (''Augastes scutatus'') is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is endemic to Brazil. Taxonomy and systematics The hyacinth visorbearer shares its genus with only one other species, the hooded visorb ...

(''Augastes scutatus'') and grey-backed tachuri (''Polystictus superciliaris'').

Conservation

The park is classified as

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

II (national park). It has the objectives of preserving natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty, enabling scientific research, environmental education, outdoors recreation and eco-tourism. Protected species include the maned wolf (''Chrysocyon brachyurus''),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

(''Puma concolor''),

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 southwes ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''), giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') and

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 Glyptodontidae, glyptodonts, were much l ...

(''Priodontes maximus'').

Notes

Sources

* * * {{authority control 2002 establishments in Brazil National parks of Brazil Protected areas of Minas Gerais Cerrado