page_title: Gran Sabana
section_title: Fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Gran Sabana / Fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Roraima Black Frog. Photo taken in Canaima National Park in Venezuela
context_page_description: La Gran Sabana is a region in southeastern Venezuela, part of the Guianan savanna ecoregion.
  The savanna spreads into the regions of the Guiana Highlands and south-east into Bolívar State, extending further to the borders with Brazil and Guyana. The Gran Sabana has an area of 10,820 km² and is part of the second largest National Park in Venezuela, the Canaima National Park. Only Parima Tapirapecó National Park is larger than Canaima. The average temperature is around 20 °C, but at night can drop to 13 °C and in some of the more elevated sites, depending on weather, may drop a bit more.
  The location offers one of the most unusual landscapes in the world, with rivers, waterfalls and gorges, deep and vast valleys, impenetrable jungles and savannahs that host large numbers and varieties of plant species, a diverse fauna and the isolated table-top mesas locally known as tepuis.
context_section_description: Despite the enormous variety of species living in the Gran Sabana, is not common for visitors to find animals on the road to El Dorado to Santa Elena de Uairén, because there prevails the open forest, and these animals prefer the islands forest, riparian forests, and jungles that are in the mountains at the foot of the tepuis.
  Savanaian wildlife species include endangered species like the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), the giant Amazon otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), the paca Agouti paca, or the marsupial endemic of the tepui summits (Marmosa tyleriana). It also has its habitat in this region of the Orinoco capuchin monkey (Chiropotes satanas), the howler (Alouatta seniculus) and the widow monkey (Pithecia pithecia). The avifauna is varied, especially the cock of the rock (Rupicola rupicola) and the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja). Among the reptiles are: the Boa constrictor, the anaconda (Eunectes murinus) and the pineapple cuaima (Lachesis muta muta). Many species of amphibians live in wet areas, including mining frog (Dendrobates leucomelas).
  Other common species include the armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), the small cuspa (Cabassous unicinctus), or capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), the higher rodent of the world. It can also find very rare event, jaguars (Panthera onca), pumas (Felis concolor), ocelots (Leopardus wiedii) and Tigritos. They have been porcupines (Sphiggurus insidiosus), cuchicuchis (Potos flavus) and weasels (Mustela nivalis), which are creatures of habit, and generally arboreal. Another interesting mammal from zoological point of view is the bush dog (Speothos venaticus), seldom sighted and only in forests of this region.
  The fauna of the tepuis is not numerous, due to the low amount of nutrients and harsh environmental conditions on the tops of the plateaus.
caption: Roraima bush toad (Oreophrynella quelchii)
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