Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary
Nature reserve in Toledo District, Belize
16°08′22″N 89°10′21″W / 16.1393209°N 89.1725409°W / 16.1393209; -89.1725409The Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary is a nature reserve in the Toledo District of southern Belize. It encompasses approximately 5,492 acres (22.23 km2) and was declared a sanctuary in 1998. The Sanctuary is critical for the preservation of biodiversity in Belize and the region.[1] The National Park protects the central wetlands areas which consist of three fresh water lagoons and a hot-spring connected by a number of creeks [2] hence the name Aguacaliente. It is co-managed by the Aguacaliente Management Team (AMT), a consortium of people from adjacent villages.
Notable Features
- The lagoons are a feeding area for hundreds of waterfowl including wood storks, endangered jabiru storks, black-bellied whistling ducks, sandpipers, and others. Many of the birds use the sanctuary as a transmigration point during their seasonal journeys.
- The Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary plays an important role in flood control and water purification. The wetlands act as a filter for the Moho River Watershed, holding and cleansing runoff and floodwaters before they travel through adjacent villages to the Gulf of Honduras.[3]
- The forest and savanna areas of the Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary provide habitat for a wide variety of animals including gibnuts|peccary, black howler monkeys, white-tailed deer, kinkajous, and endangered tapirs and jaguar.
See also
References
External links
- http://www.belizeit.com/aguacaliente-wildlife-sanctuary.html
- http://biological-diversity.info/luha.htm
- http://protectedplanet.net/301992
- http://www.belizeexplorer.com/Belize-on-a-Budget/Aguacaliente-Wildlife-Sanctuary.html
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- Aguas Turbias
- Bacalar Chico
- Billy Barquedier
- Chiquibul
- Five Blues Lake
- Gra Gra Lagoon
- Guanacaste
- Honey Camp
- Laughing Bird Caye
- Mayflower Bocawina
- Monkey Bay
- Elijio Panti
- Payne's Creek
- Peccary Hills
- Río Blanco
- Sarstoon-Temash
- St. Herman's Blue Hole
- Aguacaliente
- Cockscomb Basin
- Corozal Bay
- Crooked Tree
- Gales Point
- Spanish Creek
- Swallow Caye
- Caye Caulker
- Chiquibul
- Columbia River
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- Fresh Water Creek
- Grants Work
- Machaca
- Manatee
- Mango Creek
- Monkey Caye
- Mountain Pine Ridge
- Maya Mountain
- Sibun
- Sittee River
- Swasey Bladen
- Vaca
- Aguacate Lagoon
- Bird sanctuaries
- Block 127
- Community Baboon Sanctuary
- Golden Stream
- Monkey Bay
- Río Bravo
- Runaway Creek
- Shipstern
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