Calakmul Biosphere Reserve
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The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (Reserva de la Biosfera de Calakmul) is located at the base of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, in the state of Campeche, bordering the department of El Peten (Guatemala) to the south. It occupies 7,231.85 km² its weather ranges from semidry to humid. It includes about 12% of the subperennial jungles of Mexico. The Reserve was established in 1989.
The Reserve and the contiguous forested areas of the Maya Biosphere Reserve (Reserva de la Biosfera Maya) in the department of El Peten, Guatemala form one of the largest and least disturbed tracts of rainforest in the Americas north of Colombia.
The forest is classified as dry forest to the west and tall and medium-height subperennial rainforest to the east. It is remarkable for its small but healthy population of jaguars. Other cats (jaguarundi and ocelot) also live here. The fauna also includes agouti, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, tapir, coatis, ocellated turkeys, guans, toucans, and green parrots. Among the trees, there are ceibas, mahogany (Swietenia), strangler figs (Ficus), chaka or chaká (Bursera simaruba), and chicle or chicozapote (Manilkara).
The reserve territory is made up of two core areas separated by a highway and connected by a small corridor. This separation is probably a severe limitation to mobility of animals between the two areas.
The important Maya archeological site of Calakmul, the second largest known after Tikal, lies in the Biosphere Reserve.
