Cutervo National Park is the oldest National Park in Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. It was established September 8, 1961 by means of Law N° 13964 by the Peruvian Government

Government of Peru

Peru is a presidential representative democratic republic with a multi-party system. Under the current constitution, the President is the head of state and government; he or she is elected for five years and cannot seek immediate re-election, he or she must stand down for at least one full...

 as the first protected natural area created. Its creator was Salomon Vilchez Murga (1907-1993), a recognized Biologist who was born in Cutervo, Peru. When created, the park included a total of 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi), which has been expanded to 82 square kilometres (31.7 sq mi). The park is located in the San Andrés de Cutervo District

San Andrés de Cutervo District

San Andrés de Cutervo District is one of fifteen districts of the province Cutervo in Peru.-References:...

, Cutervo Province

Cutervo Province

The Cutervo Province is one of the thirteen that make up the Cajamarca Region of Peru. It is the home of the Cutervo National Park. It has a population of 162,686 and an area .-Political division:It is divided into fifteen districts:*Cutervo*Callayuc...

, Cajamarca. It protects part of the Peruvian Yungas

Peruvian Yungas

The Peruvian Yungas is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Yungas of Peru.-Setting:The Peruvian Yungas occur on the eastern slopes and valleys of the Peruvian Andes...

 ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

. There are lots of caves in this park including San Andres Cave, where the guacharo

Oilbird

The Oilbird , also known as Guácharo, is a bird found in the northern areas of South America . They are nocturnal feeders on the fruits of the Oil Palm and tropical laurels, and are the only nocturnal fruit eating birds in the world...

 lives - a bird in danger of extinction

Objective

The principal objective is the protection of the flora

Flora

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

 and fauna

Fauna

Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

 and as well as the conservation of the beautiful scenic locations of the cordillera

Cordillera

A cordillera is an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges, that runs along a coastline . It comes from the Spanish word cordilla, which is a diminutive of cuerda, or "cord"...

 de los Tarros.

Attractions

Its main attraction is the Cueva del Guácharo, a one-hour walk from the locality of San Andrés. In the cave is a colony of guacharo

Oilbird

The Oilbird , also known as Guácharo, is a bird found in the northern areas of South America . They are nocturnal feeders on the fruits of the Oil Palm and tropical laurels, and are the only nocturnal fruit eating birds in the world...

, nocturnal  birds that feed exclusively on fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 and nut

Nut (fruit)

A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...

s. There is also a stream which flows under this cave, containing a species of catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

 (Astroblepus rosei).

The park contains endangered animals such as: jaguar

Jaguar

The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...

, ocelot

Ocelot

The ocelot , pronounced /ˈɒsəˌlɒt/, also known as the dwarf leopard or McKenney's wildcat is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America and Mexico, but has been reported as far north as Texas and in Trinidad, in the Caribbean...

, spectacled bear

Spectacled Bear

The spectacled bear , also known as the Andean bear and locally as ukuko, jukumari or ucumari, is the last remaining short-faced bear and the closest living relative to the Florida spectacled bear and short-faced bears of the Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene age.The spectacled bear is a...

, neotropical river otter

Neotropical River Otter

The Neotropical Otter , Lontra longicaudis, is an otter species found in Central America, South America and the island of Trinidad....

, colocolo

Colocolo

Colocolo may refer to:*Colocolo , a Mapuche tribal chief.*Colo Colo creature of the Mapuche mythology.*Colocolo , a South American cat native to Chile.*Colo-Colo, a Chilean football team....

, mountain tapir

Mountain Tapir

The Mountain Tapir or Woolly Tapir is the smallest of the four species of tapir and is the only one to live outside of tropical rainforests in the wild...

, and the national bird called the Andean Cock-of-the-rock

Andean Cock-of-the-rock

The Andean Cock-of-the-rock is a medium-sized passerine bird of the Cotinga family native to Andean cloud forests in South America. The plural is Andean Cocks-of-the-rock...

.

External links

• Cutervo Nacional Park (in Spanish)