La Amistad International Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids La Amistad International Park |
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IUCN Category II (National Park)
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The cloud forest
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| Location | Panama-Costa Rica |
| Area | 239 km² Pacific, 1753 km² Caribbean |
| Established | September 6, 1988 |
| Governing body | SINAC in Costa Rica |
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| Official name: Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves / La Amistad National Park | |
| Type: | Natural |
| Criteria: | vii, viii, ix, x |
| Designated: | 1983 (7th session) |
| Reference #: | 205bis |
| Region: | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Extensions: | 1990 |
The La Amistad International Park (which means 'Friendship International Park' in Spanish) is a huge nature reserve. It's so big that it crosses the borders of two countries: Costa Rica and Panama! This park used to be called the La Amistad National Park.
It's a special kind of protected area because it's managed by both countries. This idea came from UNESCO, a group that helps protect important places around the world. They added the park to their World Heritage Site list in 1983.
La Amistad is one of the most amazing conservation areas in Central America. It protects a large area of wild tropical forest. People from all over the world know it for its incredible variety of plants and animals. Many species found here live nowhere else on Earth!
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Where is La Amistad Park?
La Amistad International Park is split equally between Costa Rica and Panama. It protects a big part of the Cordillera de Talamanca mountain range. This includes Cerro Chirripó, which is the highest point in Costa Rica.
The park covers about 401,000 hectares (that's like 4,010 square kilometers!) of tropical forest. It's the largest nature reserve in Central America. If you add a 15-kilometer "buffer zone" around it, it becomes even bigger. A buffer zone is an area around the park that helps protect it.
This park is super important for biodiversity, which means the variety of life. It holds about 20% of all the different species found in Central America! Its location makes it a key part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. This is a natural pathway that helps animals move safely across Central America.
Who Lives in and Around the Park?
The park's buffer zone includes areas where people grow coffee and raise cattle. There are also local farmers who grow food for themselves.
Three different groups of indigenous people (native people) live inside the park. They are the Naso, Bribri, and Ngöbe-Buglé tribes. These groups live in small, traditional villages.
Amazing Animals and Plants
La Amistad International Park is unique in Central America because it shows signs of past ice ages. These repeated ice ages and the park's isolated mountains have created many different habitats. This has led to an amazing variety of plants and animals, and many new species have developed here.
Scientists have found more than 10,000 types of flowering plants in the park. There are also 215 kinds of mammals, about 250 reptile and amphibian species, and 115 types of freshwater fish.
Some of the cool animals you might find here include:
- Big Cats: Five types of big cats live here, like pumas, ocelots, margay, jaguars, and jaguarundis.
- Birds: The park is home to 600 bird species. These include the unique three-wattled bellbird, the colorful resplendent quetzal, and the rare bare-necked umbrellabird.
- Endangered Species: La Amistad protects many animals that are in danger of disappearing. These include the ornate spider monkey, the Central American tapir, and the beautiful splendid poison frog.
- Unique Amphibians: At least 7 types of amphibians are found only within the park's borders, like the Chiriquí fire salamander.
Because the park's terrain is so difficult to explore, much of it is still a mystery! Scientists have only recently started exploring deep inside. Between 2003 and 2008, teams from the Natural History Museum London, INBio, and the University of Panama led important expeditions.
In 2006, a project called the Darwin Initiative helped fund more research. Scientists from the UK, Costa Rica, and Panama worked together. They wanted to learn more about the park's biodiversity and create maps of where different species live. They went on seven big expeditions to remote parts of La Amistad. During these trips, they collected over 7,500 plant samples, 17,000 beetle samples, and 380 reptile and amphibian samples. These samples are now kept in national collections in Costa Rica and Panama.
These expeditions also led to exciting discoveries! Scientists found 12 new plant species, one new type of dung beetle, 15 new amphibian species, and three new reptile species.
See also
In Spanish: Parque internacional La Amistad para niños
- List of World Heritage Sites
- Talamanca Range
- Talamancan montane forests
- Talamancan páramo
Images for kids
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Forest in the park
