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Upuigma-tepui facts for kids

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Upuigma-tepui
Upuigma-tepui is located in Venezuela
Upuigma-tepui
Upuigma-tepui
Location in Venezuela
Highest point
Elevation 2,100 m (6,900 ft)
Geography
Location Bolívar, Venezuela

Upuigma-tepui, also called El Castillo (which means "The Castle"), is a special kind of mountain called a tepui. It is located in the Bolívar state of Venezuela. Tepuis are like huge, flat-topped mountains with very steep sides. Upuigma-tepui is a bit isolated, meaning it stands mostly by itself. It is found just south of a much larger group of mountains called the Chimantá Massif. A river valley, the Río Aparurén, separates it from these bigger mountains. Upuigma-tepui is completely inside Canaima National Park, a protected area in Venezuela.

What is Upuigma-tepui Like?

Upuigma-tepui is a very tall and impressive mountain. It stands about 2,100 meters (or 6,900 feet) high. The very top of the mountain, called the summit, is not flat and smooth. Instead, it's very bumpy and uneven. You can find many tall rock towers and deep cracks, called crevasses, all over the summit. Because of these features, it's almost impossible to walk across the top of the mountain.

Plants and Animals on the Summit

The plants growing on the summit of Upuigma-tepui are mostly short, bushy plants known as tepui scrub. There are also thick areas of herbaceous plants, which are plants with soft stems, not woody ones. Scientists have found unique plants and animals here that don't live anywhere else.

Who Climbed Upuigma-tepui First?

The first people known to have successfully climbed to the top of Upuigma-tepui were John Arran, Ivan Calderon, and Steve Backshall. They reached the summit in 2007. When they got to the top, they made an exciting discovery. They found several types of plants and animals that had never been seen or recorded by scientists before! This shows how unique and special the environment on top of a tepui can be.

See Also

  • Distribution of Heliamphora

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Upuigma para niños

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