El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve
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The El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve is located at the center of the Baja California Peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez (or Gulf of California). With a landmass of over 25,000 km² (10,000 mi²) it is the largest wildlife refuge in all of Latin America and certainly the most diverse[citation needed].
[edit] First inhabitants
The Cochimi first inhabited this region over eleven thousand years ago, nomads who came from the north of the American continent. These nomadic wanderers lived in the protection of caves in the Sierra San Francisco mountain range. Travelers making the trek into this mountainous region can still see their cave art.
[edit] Unique only to Baja
The animals and plants of this territory have adapted themselves to the region’s extreme desert conditions with little rainfall, intense winds and an ecosystem which has produced thousands of endemic species of plants and animal life found no where else in the world.
[edit] Animals of the Baja
Animals that have adapted to these extreme conditions include a variety of nocturnals such as coyotes, rodents, and hares; others have adapted to only ingesting water from succulents. Outstanding among the mammals is the pronghorn antelope, one of the swiftest mammals on Earth. In this region the last populations of Antilocapra Americana Peninsularis, an endemic subspecies of the pronghorn can be found. The Vizcaino is also the habitat of the desert bighorn sheep, the mule deer, and dozens of resident and migratory birds. Of special importance: the ospreys, cormorants, herons, and gulls—and four species of sea turtles. On the coastline and islets there are many marine mammals, such as elephant seals and sea lions.
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