Sempre Vivas National Park () is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, Brazil.

Location

The park is in the

Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

biome. It covers . It was created on 13 December 2002 and is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

. It covers parts of the municipalities of

Bocaiúva Bocaiuva is a Brazil, Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the northwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was 50,256 people living in a total area of 3,232 km2. The city belongs to the Mesoregion (Brazil), ...

Buenópolis Buenópolis is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was 10,353 living in a total area of 1,610 km2. The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion of Central Mineira and to the st ...

, Diamantina and Olhos-d'Água in Minais Gerais. The park became part of the

Espinhaço Mosaic The Espinhaço: Alto Jequitinhonha – Serra do Cabral Mosaic (), or simply Espinhaço Mosaic, is a Protected area mosaic (Brazil), protected area mosaic in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Background The Espinhaço Mountains extend for about ...

of conservation units, created in 2010.

Environment

Altitudes range from . The park is in the Serras do Espinhaço Meridional. It forms part of the watershed between the

Jequitinhonha River The Jequitinhonha River () flows mainly through the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Its source lies near Diamantina in the Espinhaço Mountains at an elevation of , after which it flows northward and then east-northeastward across the uplands. ...

and

São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...

, which it feeds from about 600 springs. Average annual rainfall is . Temperatures range from with an average of . The park has well-preserved examples of varied types of vegetation including cerrado woodland and fields, seasonal semi-deciduous forest, swamp forest, streams, lagoons and riparian vegetation. These support a wide range of plant species. There are four endemic species of amphibians: Bokermannohyla saxicola, Lanceback Treefrog (''Scinax curicica''),

Pseudopaludicola mineira ''Pseudopaludicola mineira'' is a species of frog in the family Leptodactylidae. It is endemic to Brazil. Its natural habitats are moist savanna, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland ...

and Thoropa megatympanum. There are two endemic bird species: hyacinth visorbearer (''Augastes scutatus'') and grey-backed tachuri (''Polystictus superciliaris'').

Conservation

The park is classified as

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

II (national park). It has the objectives of preserving natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty, enabling scientific research, environmental education, outdoors recreation and eco-tourism. Protected species include the

maned wolf The maned wolf (''Chrysocyon brachyurus'') is a large canine of South America. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay, and is almost extinct in Uruguay. Its markings resemble those of a red fox, but it is neither a fox nor ...

(''Chrysocyon brachyurus''),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

(''Puma concolor''),

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''),

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous mammal native to Central America, Central and South America. It is the largest of the four living species of anteaters, which are classified with sloths in the or ...

(''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') and

giant armadillo The giant armadillo (''Priodontes maximus''), colloquially ''tatu-canastra'', ''tatou'', ''ocarro'' or ''tatú carreta'', is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the Glyptodontidae, glyptodonts, were much l ...

(''Priodontes maximus'').

Notes

Sources

* * * {{authority control 2002 establishments in Brazil National parks of Brazil Protected areas of Minas Gerais Cerrado