Lima, (EFE).- The Manu National Park celebrates 50 years as a protected natural area in its more than 1.7 million hectares of jungle between the Peruvian regions of Cuzco and Madre de Dios, where thousands of species of animals and plants, in addition to being the residence of three ethnic groups, natives of the Peruvian Amazon.
Manu is the fourth largest natural protected area in Peru, a habitat in which 10,000 species of plants, 1,000 species of birds and butterflies, 221 species of mammals and 210 fish coexist.
Likewise, its rivers, lakes and waterfalls are home to 150 species of amphibians and a hundred reptiles, according to the National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (Sernanp), an agency attached to the Ministry of the Environment.
Some of its emblematic species are the otorongo, harpy eagle, maquisapa, black caiman, red and green macaw, river wolf and cock of the rock, due to its 99% conservation status.
Recognition of Manu Park by Unesco
In 1977, Unesco recognized the Manu National Park as the core area of the Manu Biosphere Reserve and as a World Heritage Site in 1987.
Equally, within its borders are the Territorial Reserve of the Kugapakori and Nahua ethnic groups, the Megantoni National Sanctuary and the communal Amarakaeri Reserve.
At the root of its extent, the Manu hosts different indigenous populations, such as the Yora, Mashko-Piro, Matsiguenka, Harakmbut, Wachipaeri and Yine ethnic groups, as well as the Matsiguenkas, Tayakome and Yomibato native communities.
In the southwestern sector there is an association of Quechua farmers known as Callanga and in the northwestern sector adjacent to the park (and in the interior) there is an undetermined number of isolated indigenous populations.
Inside the Manu National Park is the Cocha Cashu Biological Station, run by the University of San Diego, which is recognized as one of the most important places to develop scientific research on the tropics, added Sernanp.