page_title: Huascarán National Park
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Huascarán National Park / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: Source/Author: Nelson Mitchell "Northern Vizcacha in the 'Parque Nacional Huascaran', Cordillera Blanca Mountains, Huaraz, Peru" I took this picture while hiking in the Andes in Northern Peru.
context_page_description: Huascarán National Park is a Peruvian national park that comprises most of the mountain range known as Cordillera Blanca which is part of the central Andes, in the region of Ancash. The park covers an area of 340,000 ha and is managed by the Peruvian Network of Protected Natural Areas: SERNANP. It was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1985 by UNESCO, is also a well-known mountaineering spot and harbors a unique biodiversity with plant species such as the Queen of the Andes, trees of the genera Polylepis and Buddleja, and animals such as spectacled bears, condors, vicunas and tarucas.
  The park is approximately 150 kilometres long from north to south and averages about 25 kilometres in width. The western slope of the Cordillera Blanca drains to the Pacific Ocean via the Santa River and the eastern slopes drain to the Marañon River, and ultimately to the Amazon River and the Atlantic Ocean.
context_section_description: Being the highest tropical mountain range in the world, the Cordillera Blanca boasts a variety of climates from subalpine to alpine and tundra. The valleys and mountain slopes are covered with scattered high Andean forests and puna grassland.
caption: Vizcacha in Huascarán National Park.
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