The Sierra Caral Amphibian Reserve is Guatemala's newest wildlife reserve and will protect the homes of some of the world's most endangered and rare amphibian species (five found nowhere else). The site, an isolated mountain ridge running along the Honduran border near the Caribbean Sea, is also an important stopover for migrating songbirds such as the Kentucky Warbler, Painted Bunting, Wood Thrush and Louisiana Waterthrush. The habitat is especially lush because it is in a convergence zone of floras and faunas from North and South America. There are many unique species such as the stunningly aqua blue Merendon Palm pitviper
(Bothriechis thalassinus) only recently identified by Guatemalan biologist Carlos Vasquez Almazan, who is also responsible for drawing international attention to the importance of the Sierra Caral. He received the prestigious
Whitley Award for Conservation [video] for his efforts.
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| juvenile Bothriechis thalassinus, credit: Don Church |
Another significance of the new reserve is that it will preserve a natural corridor used by large mammals to move between the continents which they have done before recorded time. Its 6,000 acres of primary montane forest was almost destroyed; each year Guatemala looses 70,000 hectares (270 square miles) of tropical forest to agriculture and logging. The area around Sierra Caral has been steadily denuded by clear cutting, exposing steep slopes to erosion and degrading water quality. Fifteen international conservation groups banded together to raise the funds needed to acquire the last stands of primary forest. The government had declared the area protected but it lacked funds to purchase privately held tracts. The Sierra Caral Reserve was dedicated on May 2,2012.
