Fauna of Venezuela

The fauna of Venezuela consists of a huge variety of animals. Venezuela's diverse wildlife includes manatees, Amazon river dolphins, and Orinoco crocodiles, which have been reported to reach up to 6.6 metres (22 ft) in length. Some 23% of reptilian and 50% of amphibian species that inhabit the country are endemic to Venezuela. Overall, around 8,000 species (the world's 5th highest total) are endemic to the country. Venezuela,being a very tropical country,has a very large supply of fossil fuels, gasoline,and minerals.

Venezuela hosts a total of 1,417 bird species, more than 351 mammals, 341 reptiles, 315 amphibians and more than 2000 freshwater and marine fishes.[1] Invertebrates groups have not been inventoried exhaustively, but among the well known groups there are around 900 species of marine molluscs, 1600 butterfly, over 120 dung beetles species and 39 species of blowflies.[2][3][4][5][6]

Birds

48 of which are endemic.[7] Important birds include ibises, ospreys, kingfishers,[8][9] and the yellow-orange Venezuelan troupial, the national bird.

Mammals

Notable mammals include the giant anteater, jaguar, howler monkey, and the capybara, the world's largest rodent. More than half of Venezuelan avian and mammalian species are found in the Amazonian forests south of the Orinoco.[10][11]

Importance

The use of wildlife products is widespread in Venezuela, and more than 400 species are known to be used as a source of protein (subsistence hunting) or for trade in domestic and international markets.[12]

Conservation

Habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of exotic species and overexploitation are the main threats to Venezuelan wildlife.[1][10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Rodríguez, J.P.; Rojas-Suárez, F. (2008). Libro Rojo de la Fauna Venezolana (3 ed.). Caracas, Venezuela: Provita y Shell Venezuela, S.A. p. 364.
  2. ↑ Ferrer-Paris, José Rafael; Rodríguez, Jon Paul; Good, Tatjana C.; Sánchez-Mercado, Ada; Rodríguez-Clark, Kathryn M.; Rodríguez, Gustavo A.; Solís, Ángel (2013). "Systematic, large‐scale national biodiversity surveys: NeoMaps as a model for tropical regions" (PDF). Diversity and Distributions. 19: 215–231. doi:10.1111/ddi.12012.
  3. ↑ Capelo, Juan C., Buitrago, Joaquín. 1998: Distribución geográfica de los moluscos marinos en el oriente de Venezuela. Memoria de la Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle, LXIII(150):109-160
  4. ↑ Velásquez, Yelitza; Martínez-Sánchez, Ana Isabel; Thomas, Arianna; Rojo, Santos (2017). "Checklist and distribution maps of the blow flies of Venezuela (Diptera, Calliphoridae, Mesembrinellidae)". ZooKeys. 645: 103–132. doi:10.3897/zookeys.645.6972.
  5. ↑ Ferrer-Paris, José R. (2014). "Patrones de distribución y abundancia en mariposas piérides (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) a diferentes escalas geográficas". figshare. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.1094411.
  6. ↑ Ferrer-Paris, José R.; Rodríguez, Jon Paul; Sánchez-Mercado, Ada; Rodríguez, Gustavo A. (2014). "Informe de resultados de muestreos de NeoMapas a nivel nacional 2001 a 2010". figshare. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.1094280.
  7. ↑ Lepage, Denis. "Checklist of birds of Venezuela". Bird Checklists of the World. Avibase. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
  8. ↑ Dydynski, K; Beech, C (2004). Venezuela. Lonely Planet. ISBN 978-1-74104-197-2. Retrieved 10 March 2007. p42
  9. ↑ Rodríguez, Gustavo A.; Rodríguez, Jon Paul; Ferrer-Paris, José Rafael; Sánchez-Mercado, Ada (2012). "A Nation-Wide Standardized Bird Survey Scheme for Venezuela". The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 124 (2): 230–244. doi:10.1676/11-057.1. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  10. 1 2 Jędrzejewski, Włodzimierz; Boede, Ernesto O.; Abarca, María; Sánchez-Mercado, Ada; Ferrer-Paris, José R.; Lampo, Margarita; Velásquez, Grisel; Carreño, Rafael; Viloria, Ángel L.; Hoogesteijn, Rafael; Robinson, Hugh S.; Stachowicz, Izabela; Cerda, Hugo; Weisz, María del Mar; Barros, Tito R.; Rivas, Gilson A.; Borges, Gilberto; Molinari, Jesús; Lew, Daniel; Takiff, Howard; Schmidt, Krzysztof (2017). "Predicting carnivore distribution and extirpation rate based on human impacts and productivity factors; assessment of the state of jaguar (Panthera onca) in Venezuela". Biological Conservation. 206: 132–142. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.09.027. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  11. ↑ Bevilacqua, M; Cardenas, L; Flores, AL; et al. (2002). "State of Venezuela's forests: A case study of the Guayana Region". World Resources Institute. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  12. ↑ Sánchez-Mercado, Ada; Asmüssen, Marianne; Rodríguez-Clark, Kathryn M.; Rodríguez, Jon Paul; Jedrzejewski, Wlodzimierz (2016). "Using spatial patterns in illegal wildlife uses to reveal connections between subsistence hunting and trade". Conservation Biology. doi:10.1111/cobi.12744.


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