National Parks of Spain

In the Spain, there are 14 National Parks:•They are places that are legally protected, to prevent human exploitation.

•They are national parks because of :

Their beauty.

Their rich, diverse vegetation and fauna.

Their geomorphologic enclaves (geomorphology is the study of the characteristics, origin, and development of landforms; so these enclaves are places where you can see how different landforms have formed)

•All this means that these parks are very interesting for scientific researchers.

Aigüestortes National Park

• Located in Lleida, Cataluña• Wild mountain range in the Pyrenees, with

peaks rising to 3,017m and nearly 200 lakes, many of them of glacial origin

• Great variety of alpine vegetation• The fauna includes wild boar (jabalí), marmot

(marmota), roe deer (corzo) and a variety of birds

Aigüestortes (glacier landscape)

Birds from Aigüestortes: The Western Cappercaillie (el Urogallo) y The Eurasian Treecreeper (el Agateador Norteño)

Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park

Location: Huesca, Aragón

Dominated by the biggest calcareous massif in Europe (a geologically distinct mass of rock or a series of connected masses forming the peaks of a mountain range)

Flora: oaks, birches, willows etc.

Fauna: Golden Eagle, Boar, Pyrenean Ibex, Royal Owl (búho)

The Pineta Valley in the National Park of Ordesa y Monte Perdido

Valle de Ordesa, Tozal del Mallo

Brecha de Rolando y Cascada de Soaso

In the fauna we can not forget the bearded vulture and the chamoix.

Picos de Europa National Park Location: Asturias, León, Cantabria

The park is shared by Castilla y León, Asturias, and Cantabria. The highest point of the park is in Torre de Cerredo peak (2,648 m) and the lowest point is 75 m in the Deva River. So, there is a vertical drop of 2,573 m.

The geological features of the park show the effects of glacial erosion on the limestone massifs that form the Cantabrian Mountains.

Picos de Europa, Asturias

Picos de Europa, Lake Enol

The Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park

• Location: A Coruña and Pontevedra, Galicia

• Comprises the archipelago of the following islands: Cíes, Ons, Sálvora, Cortegada

• The islands formed part of a mountain chain, which sunk into the ocean millions of years ago.

The Cies Islands, Island of San Martiño

The Cies Islands

The Cies Islands

The Ons and Salvora Islands

Cortegada island

These islands have a wide variety of marine vegetation

And a wide variety of marine life

These are other species of animals:

Monfragüe National Park

Location: Caceres, Extremadura The most recently designated of the country's

fourteen National Parks. From 1979, the area was protected as a natural park (a lower level of protection than national park status) until national park status was granted in 2007.

The park is north of Trujillo and runs from east to west along the valley of the River Tagus.

Includes a long mountainous ridge, through which the river cuts, creating an impressive rock face, called the Penafalcon, on the western side.

Monfragüe National Park

Fauna: Vultures, Eagles, Foxes.

Cabañeros National Park Location: Northwest of Ciudad Real and Southwest of

Toledo An important reserve of Mediterranean plants and

animals The best and largest representation of a Mediterranean

forest (with holm oak trees (encinas),cork oak trees (alcornoques), rockroses (jaras), heather (brezos), rosemary (romeros) etc.

There is also a large variety of protected birds, including: the Imperial eagle (águila imperial), Royal eagle (águila real), Black vulture (buitre negro), and Black stork (cigüeña negra).

Parque Nacional Cabañeros:

Localizado en los Montes de Toledo. Constituye una importante reserva de vegetación y fauna mediterráneas. Importancia del bosque mediterráneo con árboles (encinas, alcornoques…) y matorrales (jaras, brezos, madroños, romeros…) También hay un buen número de aves protegidas: águila imperial, águila real, buitre negro, cigüeña negra.

Mediterranean Forest

Meadow of Cabañeros (Dehesa de Cabañeros)