Cueva del Guácharo National Park

This article is about the Venezuelan cave and national park. For the Colombian Natural park, see Cueva de los Guácharos.

The Guácharo Cave National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Cueva del Guácharo) is located 12 km (7.5 mi) from the town of Caripe, Monagas, Venezuela. It has as its centerpiece a large limestone cave.

Cueva del Guácharo National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Cave mouth
Location of Cueva del Guácharo National Park
Location	Monagas, Venezuela
Nearest city	Caripe
Coordinates	10.19989°N 63.63968°W / 10.19989; -63.63968
Area	627 km²
Established	May 27, 1975 (1975-05-27)
Governing body	INPARQUES

The cave was visited in 1799 by Alexander von Humboldt, who realised that the thousands of oilbirds (guácharos in Spanish; scientific name Steatornis caripensis) which live in the cave belonged to a species unknown to science. Humboldt named the frugivorous, nocturnal species after the town of Caripe.^[1]

The cave

The cave inside

The cave is a limestone cavern over 10 km (6.2 mi) long, with a number of large chambers and spectacular rock formations. The temperature inside the cave generally remains near 19 °C (66 °F) and the humidity at 100%.

Guácharo bird

Oilbirds

Main article: Oilbird

Oilbirds are fruit-eating birds that live within the first section of the cave; they leave at night in search of food. The Spanish name guácharo is onomatopoeic, and comes from an old Castilian word for one who shrieks or cries, because of their characteristic sound. They are brown with black and white spots, have a long tail and bristles around their beak. They measure around 48 cm (19 in) in length, including the tail. The guácharos produce an organic layer in the cave called guano, formed by excrement and vomited seeds, which provide the basic nutrients for the cave's ecosystem.

The most important daily event in the park occurs in the evening, as dusk falls, when the birds exit the cave in great flocks, in search of food. Visitors are able to view the birds leaving the cave.

Conservation

The cave was designated as Venezuela's first National Monument in 1949.

The National Park was created in 1975 to conserve the cave and the forest ecosystem where the oilbirds feed. The altitude of the national park is 900–2,340 m (2,950–7,680 ft). There are 367 species of bird in the national park, which has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA). Although the oilbird is not an endangered species, several other resident birds fall into this category, for example the Venezuelan flowerpiercer (Diglossa venezuelensis) and the Venezuelan sylph. The national park is part of Cordillera de Caripe Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) site, along with another IBA, the Zona Protectora Macizo Montañoso del Turimiquire.^[2]

Humboldt Museum

Near to the cave entrance is the Humboldt Museum.^{[note 1]} It offers information about the cave, the national park, the oilbird (guácharo), and Alexander von Humboldt.

Notes

1. The Natural History Museum of Berlin, in Germany, has been popularly known for 60 years as the "Humboldt Museum" (from 1949 to 2009). This other Museum in Venezuela has nothing to do with the German museum located in Berlin.