El Jabalí Flora and Fauna Protection Area is a
protected natural area located in
Colima
Colima, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima, is among the 31 states that make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima.
Colima is a small state of western Mexico on the cen ...
State,
México
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. It covers an area of 51.79 km
2, which includes forests and several natural lakes.
Geography
El Jabalí is in the northern part of the state, and the Jalisco–Colima border forms its northern boundary. The protected area is on the lower slopes of two volcanic peaks,
Volcán de Colima
The Volcán de Colima, , also known as Volcán de Fuego, is part of the Colima Volcanic Complex (CVC) consisting of Volcán de Colima, Nevado de Colima () and the eroded El Cántaro (listed as extinct). It is the youngest of the three and as o ...
and
Nevado de Colima, which rise to the northeast, and it adjoins
Volcán Nevado de Colima National Park
Volcán Nevado de Colima National Park is a national park in western Mexico. It protects the upper slopes of two volcanic mountains, Volcán de Colima and Nevado de Colima, in the states of Jalisco and Colima.
Geography
The park covers an area ...
.
[ Elevations range from 1200 to 2300 meters, generally decreasing from east to west.][
The area contains several natural lakes or lagoons – La María, El Calabozo, El Jabalí, and La Escondida. Several permanent streams descend from the volcanic peaks and run from east to west through the area.][
Annual mean temperature ranges from 12 to 18º C.][
]
Flora and fauna
According to the National Biodiversity Information System of (CONABIO) in El Jabalí Flora and Fauna Protection Area there are over 1,540 plant and animal species from which 63 are in at risk category and 58 are exotics.
El Jabalí is in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests
The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests is a subtropical coniferous forest ecoregion of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt of central Mexico.
Setting
The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests occupy an area of , extending from ...
ecoregion. Plant communities include montane oak forest and pine forest and remnant cloud forests, with walnut, cedar, and ash trees. There are small areas of dry forest
The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...
at lower elevations.["El Jabalí". Sistema de Información, Monitoreo y Evaluación para la Conservación (SIMEC) of the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP). Accessed 7 September 2021]
/ref>
Native mammals include white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...
(''Odocoileus virginianus''), coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...
(''Canis latrans''), gray fox
The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener (biology), congener, the diminutive island fox ...
(''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...
(''Procyon lotor''), and nine-banded armadillo
The nine-banded armadillo (''Dasypus novemcinctus''), also called the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo or common long-nosed armadillo, is a species of armadillo native to North America, North, Central America, Central, and South America, making ...
(''Dasypus novemcinctus'').[
100 bird species have been recorded here, including ]long-tailed wood partridge
The long-tailed wood partridge (''Dendrortyx macroura'') is a bird species in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found only in Mexico.
Taxonomy and systematics
The long-tailed wood partridge shares the genus ''Dendrortyx' ...
(''Dendrortyx macroura''), banded quail
The banded quail (''Philortyx fasciatus'') is a species of bird in the family Odontophoridae. It is found only in Mexico where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tro ...
(''Philortyx fasciatus''), sparkling-tailed woodstar (''Tilmatura dupontii''), golden-cheeked woodpecker (''Melanerpes chrysogenys''), grey-crowned woodpecker
The grey-crowned woodpecker (''Colaptes auricularis'') is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to western Mexico.
Taxonomy and systematics
The grey-crowned woodpecker was originally described ...
(''Colaptes auricularis''), white-striped woodcreeper
The white-striped woodcreeper (''Lepidocolaptes leucogaster'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Mexico.
Taxonomy and systematics
The white-striped woodcreeper has two ...
(''Lepidocolaptes leucogaster''), spotted wren
The spotted wren (''Campylorhynchus gularis'') is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is endemic to Mexico.
Taxonomy and systematics
The spotted wren has sometimes been considered conspecific with Boucard's wren (''Campylorhync ...
(''Campylorhynchus gularis''), white-bellied wren
The white-bellied wren (''Uropsila leucogastra'') is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Taxonomy and systematics
The white-bellied wren is the only member of genus ''Uropsil ...
(''Uropsila leucogastra''), brown-backed solitaire
The brown-backed solitaire (''Myadestes occidentalis'') is considered a thrush and is placed in the family Turdidae. It is a medium-sized bird about 21 centimeters (8 inches) long. It is a mostly grayish bird with brown flight feathers (hence th ...
(''Myadestes occidentalis''), slaty vireo (''Vireo brevipennis''), golden vireo
The golden vireo (''Vireo hypochryseus'') is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae. It is endemic to Mexico. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological c ...
(''Vireo hypochryseus''), fan-tailed warbler
The fan-tailed warbler (''Basileuterus lachrymosus'') is a New World warbler in the genus ''Basileuterus'' that lives along the Pacific slope from northern Mexico to Nicaragua. Vagrant records exist for Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It is yello ...
(''Basileuterus lachrymosus''), and rusty-crowned ground sparrow
The rusty-crowned ground sparrow (''Melozone kieneri'') is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae that is endemic to western and southwestern Mexico. The species occurs both in the Sierra Madre Occidental range, and the Cordillera Neovolc ...
(''Melozone kieneri'').[
]
Conservation
El Jabalí was decreed a Forest Protection Area and Wildlife Refuge on 14 August 1981 by President José López Portillo
José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco (; 16 June 1920 – 17 February 2004) was a Mexican writer, lawyer, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 58th president of Mexico from 1976 ...
.[ It was designated a flora and fauna protection area in 2000.][
Its objectives are:
*Preserving ]habitat conservation
Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in ter ...
*Natural reproduction
Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: Asexual reproduction, asexual and Sexual ...
of species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
*Archiving ecological balance and protection in the ambient habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
*Protecting both wild plant
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also ...
and animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...
species that use the area refuge.
In the lagoon area, "it is strictly prohibited at all times to fish, hunt, capture, chase, harass or harm in any way the animals that inhabit temporarily or permanently the area." Non-destructive activities such as camping are permitted.
References
{{Reflist
Flora and fauna protection areas of Mexico
Protected areas of Colima
Protected areas of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt