Choco-Darien Rainforest

A tropical moist forest ecoregion of about 73,556 square kilometers stretching from the eastern Panamanian province of Darien and the Guna Yala region across almost the entire Pacific coast of Colombia, between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes. Annual rainfall of 4,000 to 9,000 millimeters makes it one of the wettest places on Earth and one of its richest biodiversity hotspots, with over 8,000 vascular plant species and 577 recorded bird species. Large emergent trees carry epiphytic lianas and mosses, seasonally flooded stands support specialized hardwoods such as cativo, and predators including harpy eagles and jaguars regulate populations of the smaller vertebrates living below the canopy. The World Wildlife Fund rates the ecoregion Relatively Stable/Intact with about 15 percent under protection, though deforestation, agricultural expansion, oil extraction and logging are eroding it.