Some interesting facts about Coiba:
It is one of the most protected and conserved islands in the whole of
Latin America.
It has one of the largest living coral reefs in the entire Pacific
Coiba is one of the most extensive islands of Central America and it
is the largest uninhabited island in the region.
In Coiba there are many unrecorded and unknown plants totalling
approximately 15000 species seen up to now. At least three of them are
native to the island. About 147 kinds of birds can be seen, of which one
species and 19 sub-species are native to the island. On the ground 39
species of amphibians and reptiles can be observed. Amongst the mammals on the island, the Howling Kun Kun Monkey and the Coiban Ñeque are native to the island.
Coiba has been catalogued as the area with the greatest quantity of
endemic species in the world. Endemic means being unique to only one
place on the earth. 80% of the fish and 90% of the mollusks belong only
to this island. Coiba also has 18 species of coral and 17% of them are
exclusive to the area and 32% are unique revelations to science.
Coiba is comparable to other bio-diversity and fishing destinations
like Coco Island in Costa Rica, Mal Pelo and Gorgona in Colombia and the
Galapogos in Ecuador.
Coiba is part of the marine corridor of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. |
OTHER INFORMATION
ABOUT COIBA:
Coiba National Park is the third largest marine park in the world,
and one of the last virgin refuges of nature. This is due to the fact
that it was a penal colony from 1919 on. Previously it was inhabited by
indians and was under the control of chief Coiba at the time of the
Spanish Conquest, proven by artefacts dating back to 500 A.D. By 1560, the island was no longer inhabited.
The National Park was founded in 1991 by the INRENARE authority and it is now run by ANAM (the National Environmental Authority). The Coiba National Park covers an area of 270,125 hectars or 2701.25 square kilometers, of which 53,528 are insular (islands) and 216,543 are marine.
Coiba Island has an area of 50,314 hectars, making it the largest in
Pacific Central America. Moreover, it has eight smaller islands
(Jicarón, Jicarita, Canal de Afuera, Pájaros, Uvas, Brincanco, Coibita
and Contreras), and more than 30 islets and numerous rocks spread out
throughout the park. In total the islands make up more than 240 Km of
coastline, which, for the most part, remains in its natural state.
it is one of the most protected and conserved islands in the whole of
Latin America |
