Calakmul Biosphere Reserve
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The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (Reserva de la Biosfera de Calakmul) is located at the base of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, in Calakmul Municipality in the state of Campeche, bordering the Guatemalan department of El Petén to the south. It occupies 7,231.85 km² and includes about 12% of the subperennial jungles of Mexico. Its weather ranges from semidry to humid. The Reserve was established in 1989.
The Reserve and the contiguous forested areas of the Maya Biosphere Reserve (Reserva de la Biosfera Maya) in the Guatemalan department of El Petén form one of the largest and least disturbed tracts of rainforest in the Americas north of Colombia.
The forest is classified as dry forest to the west and tall and medium-height subperennial rainforest to the east. It is remarkable for its small but healthy population of jaguars. Other cats (jaguarundi and ocelot) also live here. The fauna also includes Central American Agoutis, Geoffroy's Spider Monkeys, Guatemalan Black Howlers, Baird's Tapir, White-nosed Coatis, Ocellated Turkeys, Crested Guans, toucans, and green parrots. Among the trees, there are ceibas, Honduras Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), strangler figs (Ficus), chaká (Bursera simaruba), and chicle or chicozapote (Manilkara chicle).
The reserve territory is made up of two core areas separated by a highway and connected by a small corridor. This separation is probably a severe limitation to mobility of animals between the two areas.
The important pre-Columbian Maya civilization archaeological site of Calakmul, one of the largest-known Maya sites, is located in the Biosphere Reserve.
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