Jaguars (Panthera onca), giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and the endangered Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) inhabit the region, along with scarlet macaws (Ara macao), Honduras’s national bird. Moskitia is also home to the Miskito, Pech, Tawahka and Garífuna indigenous groups. Recently, scientists have been studying a site in Moskitia that some believe may be La Ciudad Blanca, or the White City, an ancient population center that seems to have been lost to the rainforest some 600 years ago.
“Rainforests like the Moskitia contain billions of years of biological knowledge of which we only understand a small amount,” Steve Elkins, a filmmaker who led an expedition to find the White City in 2012, said in the statement. “It is like a giant book of which we can only read the first few pages.”
Scarlet macaws, residents of the Moskitia region and Honduras’s national bird. Image by Julie Larsen Maher.
But the implications of its protection could extend to all of us because of its importance as a repository for biodiversity and carbon, according to Jeremy Radachowsky, who directs WCS’s Mesoamerica and Western Caribbean programs.
“President Hernández’s announcement to rescue the Moskitia forest is groundbreaking,” Radachowsky said. “However, we now all have to come together to support the Honduran government in this noble effort for the benefit of Honduras and the world.”
Banner image of a jaguar by Julie Larsen Maher.
CITATION
Garcìa, M., Jordan, C., O’Farril, G., Poot, C., Meyer, N., Estrada, N., Leonardo, R., Naranjo, E., Simons, Á., Herrera, A., Urgilés, C., Schank, C., Boshoff, L. & Ruiz-Galeano, M. 2016. Tapirus bairdii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T21471A45173340.
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Agriculture, Animals, Archeology, Biodiversity, Birds, carbon, Cats, Cattle, Cattle Pasture, Cattle Ranching, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Jaguars, Mammals, Parks, Rainforest People, Rainforests, Ranching, Saving Rainforests, Tropical Forests, United Nations, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking
Central America, Honduras, Latin America
Source link : https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/honduras-aims-to-save-vital-wildlife-corridor-from-deforestation/
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Publish date : 2018-11-13 03:00:00
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