Tres Lagunas, Chiapas, Mexico Photograph by Javier de la Maza Elvira/SEMARNAP   Southern North America: Southern Mexico Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   2,200 square miles (5,800 square kilometers) -- slightly larger than Delaware Critical/Endangered

· Mountain Forests of Mexico
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Mountain Forests of Mexico

The most extensive and intact montane forests in Mexico grow in the state of Chiapas, side by side with the largest intact area of moist forests in the country. Together, these two ecoregions provide refuge for nearly a third of the mammals and birds of Mexico, as well as about a tenth of all the reptiles and amphibians. Species such as the jaguar and great curassow, as well as the howler monkey and peccary, find a last refuge in the montane forests of Chiapas, after having lost most of their lowland moist forest habitat to deforestation.

Special Features

The climate along the steep slopes of the Chiapas Montane Forests is extremely humid, and mist is almost always present. The northeast mountain range and the Sierra Madre of Chiapas are in fact the wettest areas in Mexico, with abundant rains during at least eight months of the year that produce an average precipitation rate of 160-200 inches (400-500 cm) per year. This rain feeds deep, rich soils on which the lush forests grow.

	If you hear a strange sound in the Chiapas Montane Forests that resembles a loud cough or someone rapidly hand sawing wood, you might be close to a jaguar. While jaguars are seldom seen, their raspy voices are unmistakable.

Wild Side

The montane forests of Chiapas are a last refuge for many of the rare and endemic species of Mexico. At daybreak, the forest awakes to a loud chorus of roars from howler monkeys. Tall trees with names like liquidambar, teaquioco, and cabo de luc are dripping with epiphytes such as lichens, orchids, moss, bromeliads and ferns. Hidden in the mist, jaguars hunt skillfully for caiman, turtles, peccaries, and red brocket deer. Nine-banded armadillos sniff the deep, rich soil in search of worms and insects. Many kinds of fungi carpet the ground and trees everywhere you look. One of the largest rodents in the world, the paca, sleeps in burrows during the day and emerges at night to look for leaves, stalks, roots, and fallen fruit. The agouti, another large rodent, feeds during the day. Together they are a favorite food of the ocelot. Family groups of acorn woodpeckers climb the tree trunks drilling holes, while resplendent quetzals fly through the forests in search of wild avocado fruits. Pink-headed warblers and green-throated mountain gems dart high in the canopy while ocellated quail quietly forage in the undergrowth.

Cause for Concern

Nowhere else in Mexico are the forests being destroyed as rapidly as the montane forests of Chiapas. What's left of this relatively small ecoregion is now isolated into fragments of forest in the mountains of northeast Chiapas. Without proper planning and management to meet the needs of growing human populations, continued human settlement in and around the area seriously threaten the survival of the forests. Of 16 isolated spots of intact montane forest in Chiapas, only three of them have been protected to date. In addition to logging and oil exploitation, intensive extraction of exotic wildlife threatens many species.

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