page_title: Sumidero Canyon
section_title: Wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Sumidero Canyon / Description / Wildlife
caption_attribution_description: Crocodylus acutus, American Crocodile, Cocodrilo Americano. Photo taken at La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico
context_page_description: Sumidero Canyon is a deep natural canyon located just north of the city of Chiapa de Corzo in the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. The canyon's creation began around the same time as the Grand Canyon in the U.S. state of Arizona, by a crack in the area's crust and subsequent erosion by the Grijalva River, which still runs through it. Sumidero Canyon has vertical walls which reach as high as 1,000 metres, with the river turning up to 90 degrees during the 13-kilometre length of the narrow passage.
  The canyon is surrounded by the Sumidero Canyon National Park, a federally protected natural area of Mexico which extends for 21,789 hectares over four municipalities of the state of Chiapas. This park is administered by the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas. Most of the vegetation in the park is low- to medium-height deciduous rainforest, with small areas of mixed pine-oak forest and grassland. At the north end of the canyon is the Chicoasén Dam and its artificial reservoir, one of several on the Grijalva River, which is important for water storage and the generation of hydroelectric power in the region.
context_section_description: Throughout the history of the area, especially since it was definitively explored in the 1960s, the area's wildlife diversity has been severely negatively impacted by human encroachment in the form of settlements, agriculture and hunting. However, since the federal park was established in the 1980s, wildlife diversity has increased. In 1986, the federal Secretaría de Agricultura y Recursos Hidráulicos (SARH) reported a total of ninety species of vertebrates divided into four species of fish, one amphibian, 14 reptiles, 26 birds and 40 mammals. A 2005 study indicates 308 species with four species of fish, 15 amphibians, 195 birds, and 53 mammals. Between these two, there have been a number of other studies which also show the growth of the number of wildlife species in the park.
  Information about fish species is scarce but at least four protected species have been detected. According to a CONANP study in 2007, there are 12 species of reptile here under protection, including the river crocodile (Crocodylus acutus), and one threatened species, the Yucatán banded gecko (Coleonyx elegans). Birds are the most common type of animal in the park, with about 195 species documented. Six of these species are threatened and 17 are subject to special protection. One threatened bird species in the park is the great curassow (Crax rubra). Relatively abundant species include Actitus macularia, Dendrocygna autumnalis, Egretta caerulea, Egretta thula, Tachybaptus dominicus and Coragyps atratus, all of which are associated with bodies of water. There have been 53 species of mammals detected recently in the park, of which two are considered threatened, two in danger and two subject to special protection. Endangered and threatened species include the spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), jaguarundi, ocelot, lowland paca, white-tailed deer, anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla) and buzzard (Sarcoramphus papa). The most abundant species include the bat Artibeus jamaicensis and the rat Peromyscus mexicanus.
caption: American crocodile
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