Pantanal Wetland

About Pantanal Wetland:

• It is the world’s largest tropical wetland. 
• Location: 
  • It is located in the upper Paraguay River basin, the Pantanal straddles Brazil’s border with Bolivia and Paraguay.
  • About 80 percent of the Pantanal is in Brazil.
• It’s a 185,000-square-kilometer (71,000-square-mile) mosaic of grassland swamps fed by rivers, streams and seasonal floods and dense, low-forested savanna.
• It was developed in a structural basin formed as the Andes Mountains rose. 
• The climate is tropical, wet and dry.
• It is one of the most biologically rich environments on the planet, with more than 4,700 plant and animal species.
• Fauna:
  • Noteworthy animals include the jaguar, giant otter, giant armadillo, marsh deer, pampas deer and hyacinth macaw (the biggest parrot on the planet).
  • It has the largest concentration of crocodiles in the world, with approximately 10 million caimans.
• In 2000, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared a small portion of the Pantanal a World Heritage Site.
• Around 95% of the Pantanal is under private ownership, the majority of which is used for cattle grazing.