Cerro Duida facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cerro Duida |
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Cerro Duida (background) as seen from La Esmeralda
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,358 m (7,736 ft) |
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 Cerro Duida
Location in Venezuela
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| Location | Amazonas, Venezuela |
Cerro Duida is a huge, flat-topped mountain in Amazonas state, Venezuela. The local Ye'kwana people call it Yennamadi. These unique mountains are known as tepuis. They are like giant tables rising from the jungle.
Cerro Duida's top is not flat everywhere. It slopes quite a bit, going from about 1,300 to 1,400 meters (4,300 to 4,600 feet) high in the north and east. Its highest point is 2,358 meters (7,736 feet) on its southwestern edge. The flat top covers about 1,089 square kilometers (420 square miles). The slopes around it cover another 715 square kilometers (276 square miles). A small town called La Esmeralda is at the base of the mountain. You can climb Cerro Duida from there.
Cerro Duida is connected to another, smaller but taller, tepui called Cerro Marahuaca. Together, they form a large mountain group known as the Duida–Marahuaca Massif. Both of these tepuis are inside the Duida-Marahuaca National Park. Between them is a huge ridge called Cerro Petaca, which is at least 2,700 meters (8,900 feet) high. To the northwest, you'll find the lower Cerro Huachamacari, which is a separate mountain.
Contents
Exploring Cerro Duida
The First Expedition to the Summit
In 1928–1929, a big trip called the Tyler-Duida Expedition explored Cerro Duida. George Henry Hamilton Tate led this expedition from the American Museum of Natural History. It was a very important journey because it was the first time anyone reached the flat top of Cerro Duida. It was also the first time a tepui in the Venezuelan Amazon was climbed.
Discoveries on the Mountain
During this expedition, scientists found a special type of frog called the Mount Duida frog. This frog has only ever been found on Cerro Duida! Even though the main goal of the expedition was to study animals, they also collected many different plants. A scientist named Henry Gleason studied these plants carefully. He described many new plant species from the mountain in papers he published in 1931.
After this first trip, other important plant explorers visited Cerro Duida. These included Julian A. Steyermark in 1944 and Bassett Maguire in 1949 and 1950. They continued to learn more about the amazing plants that grow on this unique mountain.
See also
- Distribution of Heliamphora
- Duida grass finch
