Bavispe Flora and Fauna Protection Area
Bavispe Flora and Fauna Protection Area is a protected area in the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico.
The protected area consists of five separate areas, with a combined area of 2009 km2, which covers portions of three ranges in northeastern Sonora, the Sierra Los Ajos, Sierra Buenos Aires, and Sierra La Púrica. These ranges are part of the northern Sierra Madre Occidental, and lie in the upper basin of the Yaqui River.
Flora and fauna
According to the National Biodiversity Information System of Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad in Bavispe Flora and Fauna Protection Area there are over 1,040 plant and animal species from which 50 are in at risk category and 23 are exotics.Pine–oak forest is the main plant community in the region. Characteristic species include the oaks Quercus viminea and Quercus mcvaughii, the conifers Pinus strobiformis and Abies concolor, maguey de colibrí, and Amoreuxia palmatifida.
Native mammals include jaguar, puma American black bear, ocelot, coyote, gray fox, desert mule deer, white-tailed deer, collared peccary, pronghorn, North American beaver, North American porcupine, neotropical river otter, black-tailed prairie dog, and silver-haired bat.
Native birds include golden eagle, aplomado falcon, elegant trogon, acorn woodpecker, Montezuma quail, Mexican jay, military macaw, and thick-billed parrot.
Reptiles and amphibians include the desert box turtle, boa constrictor, Western diamondback rattlesnake, mountain spiny lizard, western narrow-mouthed toad, and Tarahumara salamander.
Native fish include the Yaquí catfish.