Sangay National Park () is a national park located in the Morona-Santiago, Chimborazo, Tungurahua, Cañar, and Azuay provinces of Ecuador. The park contains two active volcanoes (Tungurahua and Sangay), one extinct volcano El Altar (Kapak Urku). Protecting a range of elevations from above sea level, Sangay National Park contains a wide variety of habitats, including glaciers, volcanic landscapes, tropical rainforests, cloud forests, wetlands, grasslands, and one of the largest regions of páramo (high elevation moorlands) in Ecuador. In 1992, it was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger due to illegal poaching, extensive grazing, unplanned road construction, and encroachment of the park's perimeter. It was removed from the UNESCO list of endangered sites in 2005.

Etymology

The word "sangay" comes from the Shuar language word samkay, or "volcano".

Biodiversity

Due to the variety of habitats found within the park, the fertile volcanic soil, and the relatively unaltered landscape, Sangay National Park preserves an exceptional number of native species.

In the forests below live spectacled bears, giant otter, jaguar, ocelot, margay, Brazilian tapir, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus ustus), little red brocket deer and Northern pudu. The cougar and pampas cat have been recorded in the park as well. Caenolestes sangay, a species of shrew opossum, was originally described in 2013 from specimens collected from Sangay National Park.

Over 400 bird species inhabit the Park, and it has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International. Notable bird species resident to the park include the Andean Condor and Andean Cock-of-the-rock.

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File:19991102 Tung large.jpg|Eruption of the Tungurahua in 1999

File:Sangay peak.jpg|Aerial view of Sangay

File:Sangay2.jpg|Sangay

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See also

  • Sangay

References

  • http://logronoturismo.com/
  • Sangay National Park on UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  • Jean-Claude Petit Butterflies of Sangay National Park
  • Spectacled Bear Research and Conservation Project in Sangay National Park by Fundación Cordillera Tropical