The lacandona jungle is a type of tropical jungle that is only in southeastern Mexico, in the state of Chiapas. Its name comes from an indigenous population descended from the Maya that inhabited those lands and that the Spaniards called ‘those of Lacantún’, since they came from an island called Lacan-Tun and the shore of the Miramar Lake.
In this ecology article, we will know a little more about the Lacandona jungle, its flora and faunaincluding animals that are in danger of extinction there, its climate and its topography.
Lacandona jungle: location and characteristics
We start by placing where this region of the planet is and speaking of its main characteristics, to know better the types of ecosystems that it houses and, therefore, the flora and fauna it contains.
Location Location Location
The Lacandona jungle is in the eastern part of the state of Chiapas And it extends to its northwestern end, to the southeast of Mexico, and reaches an area of 1.5 million hectares that are delimited by the Tulijá River and the Guatemala border. It is one of the rainy rainforests more significant from America and whose name comes from a group of indigenous descendants of the Maya who inhabited the region before the conquest of the Spaniards, those known as lacandones.
Characteristics of the Lacandona jungle
- Climate, temperature and rainfall: In this jungle a humid climate with average annual temperatures between 18ºC and 22ºC predominates. However, we can differentiate two large thermal areas, one made the border with Guatemala with a temperature that varies between 24ºC and 26 ºC and another made the mountains with a variable temperature between 20ºC and 24ºC, low annual thermal variation and constant cloudiness. The average rainfall in the jungle vary between 2,000 and 3,000 mm, although there are areas with more than 3,000 mm per year. Summer and part of autumn are the rainiest times. In addition, there are waterfalls of blue and very crystalline water, such as more turbulent waterfalls, faster and faster waters.
- Soils and reliefs: The soils in this jungle are clay and rich in magnesium, calcium and humus. They are soils in general very fragile since they have high degrees of erodability. A characteristic of this jungle is that the great diversity of soils and topographic differences allow the existence of a great diversity of ecosystems and ecotonians. Broadly speaking, in the Lacandon jungle we can distinguish three kinds of reliefs that are the slopes to the West and northeast with medium jungle vegetation (between 15 and 25 meters), mountainous elevations tables and plans and depressions in the southeast part with medium and low jungle vegetation (less than 15 meters). The average height of the region is less than 1,500 meters above sea level and the most important elevations reach up to 2,200 meters above sea level.
- Rainless tropical forest types: In the Lacandon jungle it is possible to find different subtypes of rainy tropical forest, with high and medium perennifolias, subperennifolias and low bejucal low jungles, subtypes of tempered forests of conifers and latifolias, mountain mesophilic forests and other types of vegetation. In 1970, the high and medium jungle predominated in 80% of the jungle, with the presence of mesophilic forest areas and agriculture. Already by 1996, the induced and cultivated grassland was extended in large areas of the north of the jungle.
- Fauna: Among its fauna are estimated that about 40 species of birds, 300 of daytime butterflies, 20 mammal species and over 5,000 more than other invertebrates.
Flora of the Lacandona jungle
The Lacandona jungle includes more plant species than all states to northern Mexico together. According to estimates, in just one hectare of this place it is possible to find up to 265 species of plants, of which about 160 correspond to trees. This makes this jungle the place with a greater density of plants in the world. Between the Flora of the Lacandona jungle We highlight:
Mahogany
It is a perennifolio or deciduous tree from intertropical areas that can measure between 35 and 50 cm. Other of its denominations are aguano or zopilote.
Cedros
Cedros are a genus of pinaceae conifers that can reach a large size, measuring between 25 and 50 meters high.
Rosewood
Also known as Tipuana, they are trees of the genre Fabaceae Fast growth, corpulent and reaches an average height of 18 meters.
Bromelias
It is a genus of American tropical plants of the family Bromeliceae With flowers that have a very deep chalice. In addition, it is a fairly common genre of having in the houses, so we tell you in this other ecology article see the care of bromelia plants.
Orchids
Numerous orchid species inhabit the Lacandon jungle. It is one of the families of plants with the highest number of species and are especially abundant in tropical areas. They are characterized by the complexity of their flowers and for being very attractive to pollinators.
Epiphytic plants
In the Lacandon jungle there are a lot of epiphytic plants such as mosses, lichens, ferns and even some bromeliums and orchids, mentioned above.
Lacandona jungle: fauna
In the Lacandon jungle they live spiders, sarahuatos and tlacuaches between the branches of the trees. Among the gaps of the trunks and the branches we can find birds such as toucans, parakeets, parrots or red macaws and among the plants inhabit beetles, ants, butterflies or amphibians such as frogs.
Tapirs
They are medium -sized perisodactile mammals with a length between 1.3 and 2.5 meters and between 100 and 300 kg of weight. It is one of the species at risk in this area of the world. Learn more in this other article on why the TAPIR is in danger of extinction.
Sarahuato or howler monkey
Also known as black howler monkey, it is a kind of primate typical of the tropical jungles of southeast Mexico.
Spider monkey
This is another type of monkey that lives in this area with the previous species. It is a family primate Atelidae, which lives in tropical forests from Mexico to Brazil.
Tlacuaches or tsiragnostas
In this area of Mexico they are also called clacuache, tacuache or tacuacín. These are the Tsoorn, which are Marsupial mammals.
Ocelot
It is a family carnivorous mammal Felidae. Its appearance is similar to that of a jaguar and in the image of this section you can see one.
If you want to learn more about this feline, we recommend reading this other post on why the ocelot is in danger of extinction.
Jaguar
It is a felid carnivorous, being the greatest feline in America and the third in the world. In this other article we teach the differences between Leopardo, Guepardo and Jaguar.
In addition, to know it much better we recommend reading this other article about the reasons why the jaguar is in danger of extinction.
Barbiblanco or White Lips Pecarí
They belong to the Tayasuidos family (Tayassuidae), so they are supporters of the wild boars, but these artiodactile mammals only exist in America. They are also called Tatabro, Báquira or Cafuche.
Guacamaya or Red Guacamaya
The largest parrots that currently exist are macaws or macaws and one of the most common are red, but there are less and less in the wild. However, in the Lacandona jungle, you can still see red macaws in freedom, flying in flocks. Here we talk to you more about the reasons why macaw is in danger of extinction.
Sadly, almost all of these species are also part of the Fauna in danger of extinction in the Lacandona jungle.
Lacandona jungle: in danger of extinction
The Lacandon jungle has been fighting the devastation and threat of the human being for the natural wealth of this place. Thus, factors such as deforestation or illegal trafficking of species have led certain animals to an imminent danger of extinction.
Some of the in danger of extinction in the lacandona jungle are:
- Red Guacamaya
- Tapir
- Pecarí with white lips or barbiblanco
- Jaguar
- Ocelot
- Howler monkey
- Spider monkey
If you want to read more articles similar to Lacandona jungle: flora and faunawe recommend that you enter our category of ecosystems.
