Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Map showing the location of Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary
Map showing the location of Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary
Map of Belize
LocationToledo District, Belize
Coordinates16°08′22″N 89°10′21″W / 16.1393209°N 89.1725409°W / 16.1393209; -89.1725409
Area5,492 acres (22 km2)
Established1998
Governing bodyCo-managed by Aguacaliente Management Team

The 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

  1. ↑ Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary - You Better BelizeIt, 2016
  2. ↑ Biodiversity in Belize - Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary REA, 2016
  3. ↑ Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary - You Better BelizeIt, 2016


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