Flora and Fauna

Defensores del Chaco National Park

1,927,380 acres (780,000 ha)
  
Species Protected: Puma, Jaguar, Lowland Tapir, White Lipped Peccary, Collared Peccary, Night monkey, Giant Armadillo, Capped Heron, Whistling Heron, Brown Tinamou, Quebracho Crested Tinamou.

Flora

The Chaco National Park presents a representative biodiversity of the Chaco region and a good representation of what exists nationwide. The park has 8 plant communities as seasonally saturated dense semi-deciduous forest (BDSES) xerofítico dense humid semi-deciduous forest (BXDSSH), open xeromorphic Semi-deciduous forest (BXAS), xerophytic open semideciduous forest humid (BXASSH), Savannah hoisted of periodic flooding (SAIP), xeromorphic Thicket semideciduo (MXS), permanent hydromorphic vegetation (VHP) and Cliffs with herbaceous vegetation (AVH)

PLANT COMMUNITIES	Number of species	Percentage of species	Coverage Area (ha)	Percent Coverage
Wooded savanna periodic flooding	11	4.2	2.937	0.40
Hydromorphic permanent vegetation	26	9.8	706	0.10
Cliffs with herbaceous vegetation	-	-	2.130	0.30
Forest open xeromorphic semideciduo	108	41	181.220	25.13
Humid semi-deciduous forest open xerofítico	90	34.1	325.878	45
Semideciduo xeromorphic Thicket	100	37.9	46.694	6.47
Xerofítico dense humid semi-deciduous forest	63	23.9	65.619	9.10
Xerofítico dense humid semi-deciduous forest	110	41.7	95.950	13.30
TOTAL	264	-	721.134	100

Plant communities of the Park and floristic diversity

The most urgent conservation are Amburana cearensis (clover), considered endangered and Bulnesia sarmientoi (lignum), which is being harvested unsustainably.

Bulnesia sarmientoi

Amburana cearensis

Fauna

According to the management plan of the park's total of 426 vertebrate species recorded for the area, during a survey 60% of them were recorded, indicating that the park remains in a stable condition since the preliminary list is part of records on the protected area since ancient times. These data also demonstrate the ease of observing a wide variety of animals in a short time, a fact that may favor the implementation of a tourism plan for those interested in nature or behavioral studies or other inherent biology

Jaguar Habitat in Defenders of the Chaco National Park

Long considered one of the most significant, core protected areas of the Paraguayan Gran Chaco, this park is home to a myriad of wildlife, including thriving jaguar populations.This national park is a important element for the long-term conservation of jaguars and their associated biodiversity in the country’s largest protected area, 720,000 hectares of virgin Chacoan Dry Forest. It lies within the expansive 18-country Jaguar Corridor. 

Today, Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative is the largest and most ambitious carnivore conservation program in the world. Aiming to ‘connect and protect’ jaguar populations from Argentina to Mexico to ensure the genetic diversity of the species, this program holds the key to the long-term conservation of jaguars across Latin America. Parks that embrace sustainable development, like Defensores del Chaco, constitute stepping-stones and refuges along the Jaguar Corridor through which jaguars can safely move to hunt, reproduce and care for their young.