Jalapão

Jalapão State Park (Portuguese: Parque Estadual do Jalapão) is a state park in the microregion of Jalapão in eastern Tocantins, Brazil.

Understand

The Jalapão State Park has an area of 158,885 hectares (392,610 acres) and contains a variety of landscapes including cerrado vegetation, sand dunes and flat-topped plateaus. It covers the Espírito Santo dunes and mountains, and is relatively inaccessible, requiring a drive of about 600 km (370 mi) over dirt roads. It contains flat-topped plateaus bounded by steep cliffs, constantly subject to erosion by rain and wind. Most of the park is in the upper basin of the Do Sono River, including the Novo, Soninho and Do Sono rivers, which are part of the Araguaia - Tocantins basin.

History

The Jalapão State Park was created on 12 January 2001. The park is part of the Jalapão ecological corridor; Serra Geral do Tocantins Ecological Station, one of the core areas of the Cerrado Biosphere Reserve, is also part of this corridor. On 21 July 2009 a technical cooperative agreement was signed between the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the Nature Institute of Tocantins for management and conservation of the Serra Geral do Tocantins Ecological Station and the Jalapão State Park.

Flora and fauna

The park contains rare species like Annona coriacea, Attalea eichleri, Chamaecrista oligosperma, and economically useful plants include Syngonanthus nitens, Mauritia flexuosa, Anacardium occidentale, Anadenanthera colubrina, Astronium fraxinifolium, Brosimum gaudichaudii, Dalbergia miscolobium, Eugenia dysenterica (cagaita), and Stryphnodendron adstringens. Acosmium subelegans, Andira cordata and Parkia platycephala are endemic.

The hoary fox (Lycalopex vetulus) is endemic. The rare and endangered Brazilian merganser (Mergus octosetaceus) and Chaco eagle (Buteogallus coronatus) are found in the park.

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