La Guajira is an incredible place in Colombia to visit and mostly because its history has a big effect in the present. Long time ago every internacional or another country tourist would always enter to Colombia from La Guajira before any other place because its the highest point of Colombia and South Africa. The first impression of Colombia is in these amazing place. One of the most important characteristic of La Guajira are the animals living here and the way they adapt to these place.
The flamingo is one of the most unique birds in the world. With only six species living in Africa, Asia, and South America. Flamingos are pink-feathered birds that feed their selves with brine shrimp and blue-green algae.These pink-feathered birds thave a peculiar beak, specially made to separate mud from the food they eat. Flamingos get the pink color from their diet of animal and plant plankton. The plankton saturates their color and makes it brighter.When visiting La Guajira, we saw one of these species called American Flamingo only located in the Caribbean and in the Galapagos Island. In the Caribbean coast of Colombia, one of the only places that serves as a refuge for Flamingos in South America is El Santuario de Fauna y Flora Los Flamencos. This bird is protected by al the fisherman of the area so they can conserve part of their nature intact. This is one of La Guajirá’s most incredible sceneries. As we said before the flamingo is one of the most unique birds in the world, so we can asure La Guajira is too just because this place has the perfect characteristics for this amazing animals to adapt although they are known to travel from one place to another very often. Goats are animals that come from the Bovidae family. They are domestic and easy to maintain. Their simple ways of adapting to the environment makes them very vital for the Wayúu community (the ethnic group of La Guajira in northern Colombia and northwest Venezuela.) This animals have a huge impact on this comunity because it respresents the amount of power each family or individual has and they are used for trading and other essential things. For instance, a goat’s diet is of almost anything they find. This is why they can survive in the desert, eating dry plants or other vegetation they find in the way. Unlike humans, goats have stomachs that are more like a cow’s stomach, they’re composed.Their alimentation is high in fiber, and because they don’t require lots of water, they are capable of surviving easily in the desert. Goats are also cheap animals to mantain. They give the same purposes as a cow does; milk for chese butters etc, and a lot of meat.
In the Santuario de Fauna y Flora Los Flamencos there’s also a reservoir of turtles. They keep turtles that are soon going to be extinct and take care of them until the day of the ceremony in which they let them go. The people from the Santuario let tourists name their turtles and “adopt” them. They place a small label on them and after a few months, they release them into the ocean. In this santuario you are able to find turtles that are as small as the ones showed in the picture above and other that can get to be one meter long. This is beautiful because you dont see this often and the amount of variety of turtles is something very natural to watch and very wxiting. It’s an amazing experience you can’t miss!
After reading this article you will be able to understand the magic that is found in this place and how important the animals are for the comunity. Altough this pictures are incredible it would be ten times more fasinating if you have the oportunity to see it with your own eyes and live this unforgotten experience that everyone talks about.
February 10 2010
Valentina Montoya
Laura Manrique
Isabela Jimenez
Biogeography
Biogeography: Adaptation in Animals to La Guajira
La Guajira is an incredible place in Colombia to visit and mostly because its history has a big effect in the present. Long time ago every internacional or another country tourist would always enter to Colombia from La Guajira before any other place because its the highest point of Colombia and South Africa. The first impression of Colombia is in these amazing place. One of the most important characteristic of La Guajira are the animals living here and the way they adapt to these place.
The flamingo is one of the most unique birds in the world. With only six species living in Africa, Asia, and South America. Flamingos are pink-feathered birds that feed their selves with brine shrimp and blue-green algae.These pink-feathered birds thave a peculiar beak, specially made to separate mud from the food they eat. Flamingos get the pink color from their diet of animal and plant plankton. The plankton saturates their color and makes it brighter.When visiting La Guajira, we saw one of these species called American Flamingo only located in the Caribbean and in the Galapagos Island. In the Caribbean coast of Colombia, one of the only places that serves as a refuge for Flamingos in South America is El Santuario de Fauna y Flora Los Flamencos. This bird is protected by al the fisherman of the area so they can conserve part of their nature intact. This is one of La Guajirá’s most incredible sceneries. As we said before the flamingo is one of the most unique birds in the world, so we can asure La Guajira is too just because this place has the perfect characteristics for this amazing animals to adapt although they are known to travel from one place to another very often.
Goats are animals that come from the Bovidae family. They are domestic and easy to maintain. Their simple ways of adapting to the environment makes them very vital for the Wayúu community (the ethnic group of La Guajira in northern Colombia and northwest Venezuela.) This animals have a huge impact on this comunity because it respresents the amount of power each family or individual has and they are used for trading and other essential things. For instance, a goat’s diet is of almost anything they find. This is why they can survive in the desert, eating dry plants or other vegetation they find in the way. Unlike humans, goats have stomachs that are more like a cow’s stomach, they’re composed. Their alimentation is high in fiber, and because they don’t require lots of water, they are capable of surviving easily in the desert. Goats are also cheap animals to mantain. They give the same purposes as a cow does; milk for chese butters etc, and a lot of meat.
After reading this article you will be able to understand the magic that is found in this place and how important the animals are for the comunity. Altough this pictures are incredible it would be ten times more fasinating if you have the oportunity to see it with your own eyes and live this unforgotten experience that everyone talks about.
February 10 2010
Valentina Montoya
Laura Manrique
Isabela Jimenez
Biogeography
Adaptadions in Animals to La Guajira