Llanos

A tropical grassland plain of about 375,786 square kilometers spanning Colombia and Venezuela east of the Andes, bounded by the Venezuelan Coastal Range to the north and the Guiana Highlands to the southeast. Fed by the Orinoco River system, the Llanos alternates a wet season running April to November with a sharp dry season, producing seasonal wetlands within open grassland and gallery forest. Capybaras, jaguars, giant otters, the endemic Llanos long-nosed armadillo and around 70 species of water birds depend on the flood pulse. Decades of cattle ranching, rice and maize cultivation, introduced grasses, deliberate burning and oil and gas development have reshaped the ecoregion, of which about 28 percent lies within protected areas.