THE LLANOS

By: Alex Bauman

LOCATION

The Llanos is an elongated area 1200-1300 kilometers long that is in the northern region of South America and goes into a northeast curve. It also goes from the Oriental Andes of Colombia to the coast of the Orinoco River as well as being a depression limited by the Andes, the Venezuelan coastal, and the Guiana shield.

UNIQUE ASPECTS OF LLANOS

• The Llanos is made up of savanna and forest with wetlands forming or being overflowed during the rainy season.

• Given that it is a savanna it has a wet season and a dry season, meaning that the wetlands on it will sometimes be flooded and sometimes be dry.

UNIQUE ASPECTS OF LLANOS (CONTINUED)

• The Llanos bajos is the area of the savanna that is flooded during the raining season and the area most likely with the most wetland. The Llanos altos is a higher area than the Llanos bajos and doesn’t get flooded during the rainy season.

• The richest areas in the Llanos for the fauna is concentrated around the permanent and temporary water sources.

• One of the many fauna in these wetlands are the capybara, which is the largest rodent in the world.

UNIQUE ASPECTS OF LLANOS (CONTINUED)

• Also present is the anaconda, the largest boa in the world which is over 23 feet long.

• The wetlands fauna also include neotropical migratory birds: shorebirds like yellowlegs and several special of sandpipers.

• At least 62 of the bird species in this region are Neotropical migrants. These represent almost 40% of the migratory species in Columbia and Venezuela.

THREATS

The 4 major threats to the Llanos:

1. Agriculture2. Deforestation3. Oil industry4. Dikes and ponds

WORK CITED

“Columbia: The Llanos Grasslands.” The Nature Conservancy. 1 September 2011. Web. 9 September 2012.

World Wildlife Fund. “Llanos.” Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. 2 August 2012. Web. 9 September 2012.