Canaima National Park

**Canaima National Park** () is a  park in south-eastern Venezuela. It is in about the same place as the Gran Sabana region. It is in Bolívar State, next to Brazil and Guyana. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

## History

Canaima National Park was made into a park on 12 June 1962.
As early as 1990, the countries in the Amazonian Cooperation Treaty decided to make this park bigger so it would meet Monte Roraima National Park in Brazil.

In 1994, the Canaima National Park was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The International Union for Conservation of Nature looked at this park in 2017, and it listed Canaima National Park as an area of significant concern: It said it was doing a bad job of protecting the living things in the park.

## Location

Canaima National Park is the second largest park in Venezuela, after Parima-Tapirapecó, and it is the sixth biggest national park in the world. It is about the same size as Belgium or Maryland. The park protects part of the Guayanan Highlands moist forests.

The most famous tepuis in the park are Mount Roraima and Auyantepui. The tepuis are sandstone. They are so old that, when they first existed, South America and Africa were part of the same big continent.

Indigenous people live in the park. They are called the Pemon Indians.

The park has only a few roads to towns. To travel inside the park, most people walk, canoe, or use small airplanes.

## Animals

Canaima has many animals. Among the species found are:

- Giant armadillo (_Priodontes maximus_)
- Giant otter (_Pteronura brasiliensis_)
- Giant anteater (_Myrmecophaga tridactyla_)
- Cougar (_Puma concolor_)
- Jaguar (_Panthera onca_)
- Linnaeus's two-toed sloth (_Choloepus didactylus_)
- White-faced saki (_Pithecia pithecia_)
- Brown-backed bearded saki (_Chiropotes israelita_)
- Roraima mouse (_Podoxymys roraimae_)
- Tyleria mouse opossum (_Marmosa tyleriana_)
- Harpy eagle (_Harpia harpyja_)
- Red-shouldered macaw (_Diopsittaca nobilis_)
- Dusky parrot (_Pionus fuscus_)
- Yellow-banded poison dart frog (_Dendrobates leucomelas_)
- Green iguana (_Iguana iguana_)
- Hummingbirds (Trochilinae)
- Toucans (Ramphastidae)
- South American bushmaster (_Lachesis muta_)
- Green acouchi (_Myoprocta pratti_)
- Bush dog (_Speothos venaticus_)
Canaima National Park is among one of several dozen regions in Venezuela that has been identified as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBAs) by BirdLife International, a global cooperative of non-governmental organizations focused on the conservation of the world’s birds and their natural habitats.

## Plants

There are over 300 different species of plants that only live in La Gran Sabana. The park has carnivorous plants in it. These are plants that eat animals, usually insects.
- Endemic flora includes _Achnopogon, Adenanthe_, _Chimantaea_, _Mallophyton,_ _Quelchia_, _Tepuia_.
- Endemic carnivorous plants include the _Heliamphora_ (South American pitcher plants) and _Brocchinia_ (a type of bromeliad), as well as several local species of _Drosera_ (sundews), _Genlisea_ (corkscrew plants) and _Utricularia_ (bladderworts).

## Water

The park has the entire watershed of the right bank of the Caroní River and two of the highest waterfalls in the world, Angel Falls and the Kukenán. It also has many lower waterfalls.

## Land forms

The only land forms are the tepuis. These are plateaus. The tops of the plateus have many plants and animals. These plateaus are between 1.5 and 2 billion years, which makes them one of the oldest formations in the world.

### East

In the 1990s, Canaima National Park had about 100,000 tourists each year, with 90% visiting its tepuis.

## Movies

The movie Arachnophobia happens in a not-real town called Canaima. Some of the movie was made in the park.

## Other articles

- La Gran Sabana

## Other website

- Official information about the Canaima National Park
- UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre
- Official UNESCO website entry
- Canaima National Park
- Protected Planet Page for Canaima

## Infobox (protected area)

- **name**: Canaima National Park
- **iucn category**: II
- **photo**: Wadakapiapo Yuruani tepuy 2010.jpg
- **photo caption**: Wadakapiapué-tepui and Yuruaní-tepui in Canaima National Park
- **location**: Bolívar (state), Bolívar State, Venezuela
- **map**: Venezuela
- **relief**: 1
- **map caption**: Location of Angel Falls in the Canaima National Park
- **map width**: 240
- **area km2**: 30,000