Araucaria, Brazil Photograph by WWF   Neotropical Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   83,400 square miles (216,100 square kilometers) -- nearly the same size as Louisiana and Ohio combined Critical/Endangered

· Mountains, Plateaus, and Wildlife
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Mountains, Plateaus, and Wildlife

The Araucaria Moist Forests grow across the mountainous areas of southern Atlantic Brazil and extend into northeastern Argentina. To see them firsthand, you'd have to hike from middle-level plateaus at around 1,650 feet (500 m) up to the high slopes of the Serra da Mantiqueira, which rise to 5,280 feet (1,600 m) above sea-level. But you'd be well rewarded for your hard work by seeing a fabulous diversity of wild plants, birds, mammals, and more!

Special Features

The Araucaria Moist Forests are relicts of the mixed coniferous and broad-leafed trees that once covered much of this montane landscape. The plant communities in the ecoregion vary a lot, with stands of Brazilian Araucaria trees and tree species from different types of Atlantic forest alternating with grassland areas. This ecoregion represents the southern range of many tropical species and the northern range of many temperate species. The climate is subtropical with frequent frosts and without a true dry season. Annual precipitation is high, ranging from 50 to 120 inches (1,300-3,000 mm). Over 13 percent of the more than 350 plant species in this ecoregion are endemic.

	Brown howler monkeys are quite rare and confined to these and other forest patches in southern Atlantic Brazil. They are slow moving because they are vegetarians and use up most of their energy detoxifying the leaves they eat.

Wild Side

If you visit these forests, you'll see plenty of Brazilian Araucaria trees. Their branches offer safe roosts for the endangered and endemic red-spectacled Amazon parrot, whose red crown, shoulders, and thighs stand in dramatic contrast to its green body. Lower in the canopy, brown howler monkeys chew on leaves and fruit from a nearby fig tree. On the forest floor, a paca, a medium-sized hopping rodent, cautiously chews on a fallen Inga seed, unaware of the tayra--a small, weasel-like mammal--that sits patiently in a tree snag above. A bird called an Araucaria tit-spinetail hides among pine needles between acrobatic feeding stunts, when it will hang upside down and fly circles around a small branch. Gliding between tree trunks, a Hagen's flying squirrel is able to travel great distances through the forest without ever touching the ground.

Cause for Concern

The Araucaria Moist Forests have been reduced by over 85 percent, and the remaining habitat is protected under public lands. Other patches also grow in and around agricultural areas. Logging and conversion to agriculture are the most serious threats, as are human settlement and urbanization.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.