Rio Fuerte, Mexico Photograph by David Olson   Neotropical Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests   29,900 square miles (77,500 square kilometers) -- about the size of South Carolina Critical/Endangered

· Jaguars, Ocelots, and Elegant Quail
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Jaguars, Ocelots, and Elegant Quail

The Sinaloan Dry Forests stretch through three Mexican states-Sonora, Sinaloa and Nayarit--from the base of the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains west to the Pacific Ocean. The climate is subtropical subhumid with a long dry season, perfect weather for the dry forest trees and columnar cacti of this ecoregion, including the kapok tree, quiebrocha, and desert fern. Many jaguars and ocelots once roamed these forests but are now endangered. Other animals enjoy larger populations, and you might spot a pack of collared peccaries or a brood of elegant quail scurrying in the brush. Near the end of the dry season, amapa trees covered with beautiful purple blossoms liven up the hillsides.

Special Features

Considered by most scientists as the northernmost dry forests of Mexico, some actually classify these forests as a type of thorny scrub. Isolated from high mountains and desert, the region has a high level of plant and animal diversity and endemism.

	Peccary are famous for rutting--eating roots and small trees. In the absence of predators, excess rutting changes forest structure in the long term.

Wild Side

This region is classified among the Endemic Bird Areas of the World because of the high number of birds that live only here. Several species of cats used to prowl the Sinaloan Dry Forests, but the jaguar, puma, ocelot, and jaguarundi are in danger of extirpation due to hunters and the destruction of their habitat. Mule deer fare better, as do a number of birds that include the white-throated flycatcher, happy wren, rufous-backed robin, blue-rumped parrotlet, and the least pygmy owl. One turkey-like bird is named after the sound it makes-chachalaca. Endemic species include the Sinaloa crow, Mexican woodnymph, Sinaloan pocket mouse, and Sinaloan milk snake.

Cause for Concern

As in other Mexican forests, the plants and trees of this ecoregion are being cleared for agriculture and cattle grazing. Fruit and legume plantations have replaced many sections of forest, and Croton and Bursera trees are being cut down to build field and house fencing. Animals have little protective cover and are reduced to living in smaller and smaller areas. Hunters kill many ocelots each year to trade their beautiful spotted coats illegally. Only one protected area exists at this time, covering for a limited amount of dry forests at the base of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Conservationists have proposed a new park to help a rare forest type survive.

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