Tapantí - Cerro de la Muerte Massif National Park, (), is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in the

Central Conservation Area Central Conservation Area (), is an administrative area which is managed by SINAC for the purposes of conservation in the central part of Costa Rica, notably the volcanic areas of the Cordillera Central. It contains six National Parks, several ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

located on the edge of the Talamanca Range, near Cartago. It protects forests to the north of Chirripó National Park, and also contains part of the Orosí River. The area known as Cerro de la Muerte Massif was added to the park on January 14, 2000. The southwest border of the protected area corresponds partially to the Route 2, (South Inter-American Highway), the Los Quetzales National Park and Los Santos Forest Reserve are located the other side of this road.

Flora and fauna

The park covers and two life zones: lower montane rain forest and pre-montane rain forest. These forests provide habitat for some 45 mammal species, including the Baird's tapir, kinkajou, white-faced capuchin monkey, paca, agouti, ocelot, and jaguarundi. The park's 400 bird species include sparrow hawks, resplendent quetzals, emerald toucanets, and violaceous trogons. There are 28 species of reptiles and amphibians, and a large insect population that includes the thysania agrippina, the largest moth on the American continent. In 2009, three new species of ''

Lepanthes ''Lepanthes'' (from Greek "scaled-flower") is a large genus of orchids with about 800–1000 species, distributed in the Antilles and from Mexico through Bolivia (with very few species in Brazil). The genus is abbreviated in horticultural trade a ...

'' orchids were discovered in the park, which is so far their only known habitat. All three species, ''L. graciosa'', '' L. machogaffensis'', and ''L. pelvis'', are miniature orchids and neither is longer than 5 mm. They were discovered by a team from the Lankester Botanical Garden and the

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...

Ramsar site

Part of the

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Chirripó National Park, Los Quetzales National Park, Macho River Forest Reserve, Vueltas Hill Biological Reserve and Los Santos Forest Reserve.

References

External links

* at Costa Rica National Parks National parks of Costa Rica Protected areas established in 1982 Geography of Cartago Province Tourist attractions in Cartago Province 1982 establishments in Costa Rica {{CostaRica-protected-area-stub