Caratinga Biological Reserve, Brazil Photograph by WWF/ Adriana Rimoli   Neotropical Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   88,800 square miles (230,000 square kilometers) -- nearly twice the size of Pennsylvania Critical/Endangered

· Marmosets and Canasteros
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Marmosets and Canasteros

If you visited the Bahia Interior Forests, you'd discovered that much of the original forest has been logged and developed. Still, the region sustains patches of original forest amid a variety of other habitat types. And it is home to a dazzling diversity of species. Visit these forests and you may see species found here and nowhere else, including two species of marmosets and an endangered and endemic bird, the Cipó canastero.

Special Features

The Bahia Interior Forests ecoregion extends in a north-south direction in eastern Brazil, forming the transition between the savanna habitat of the cerrado (to the west) and the Atlantic coastal forests (to the east). This ecoregion is a mosaic of evergreen and gallery forests mixed with semi-deciduous forests, medium and tall grasslands, shrubby savanna, and arid montane scrub. These habitats are spread out across a region of hills, tablelands, small mountains, and river valleys. Elevations range from 3,300 to 4,900 feet (1,000-1,500 m), with some peaks over 6,500 feet (2,000 m). The climate is strongly seasonal, with mild, rainy summers and dry winters. This area is known for its high floral diversity, with more than 4,000 species of plants recorded.

	Unlike other sloth species, the maned sloth has long black hair from its neck to its shoulders, creating its "maned" appearance.

Wild Side

Primates abound in these forests, including the endangered golden lion tamarin, titi monkey, brown capuchin, and woolly spider monkey. Here you might see a crab-eating fox searching a stream bed for small mammals and fruits as you listen to the calls of a small Brasilia tapaculo filling the early morning air. If you're very observant, you might spy the rare Cipó canastero in isolated rock crags in the undulating grasslands. In the distance, the reddish fur and large ears give away the location of the unusual maned wolf. If you look closely and for long enough, the silhouette of a rare maned sloth takes form in the top of a cecropia tree on the forest's edge. At a nearby mud puddle, a variety of colorful butterflies land to sip water.

Cause for Concern

Much of this area has been colonized since the discovery of precious metals in the 1800s. Although diamonds, gold, quartz crystal, and manganese have all been mined in the Minas Gerais region, mining activity has recently subsided. Many people have taken to cattle ranching and have cleared extensive areas of forest to create pasture. Forests are also being logged for timber and charcoal. Much of the native habitat is fragmented, and continued settlement threatens much of the area.

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