Sri Lanka

Asia

Capital: Sri Jayawardenepura KotteDecember to March

225

Documented species

Parks and reserves

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Sri Lanka forms, together with the Western Ghats of India, one of the planet's biodiversity hotspots, with an extremely high proportion of species found nowhere else for its size. The island divides into a wet zone in the southwest, where the Sinharaja rainforest survives, and a dry zone across the rest of the territory, with monsoon forests, ancient tanks or reservoirs, and savannahs. In the centre rise the highlands, with high-altitude grassland and cloud forest at Horton Plains, and on the coast appear mangroves, lagoons and reefs. The island holds a very high leopard density at Yala and an important Asian elephant population. Off the southern coast the continental shelf falls away sharply and brings blue whales close to shore.

The nature of Sri Lanka

National animal: The Sri Lanka junglefowl is the national bird; the lion is the heraldic symbol on the flag

Did you know?

When the Minneriya reservoir drops in the dry season, fresh grass grows on the exposed bed and one elephant after another begins to arrive from the surrounding forests. Between August and September more than three hundred animals can come together at once, which makes it the largest known concentration of Asian elephants in the world, a phenomenon known locally as the Gathering.

Biodiversity profile

Sur de Asia (isla, hotspot Ghats Occidentales-Sri Lanka)El pais mantiene aprox. 30% de cobertura forestal pese a tener mas de 300 hab/km2 de densidad poblacional, siendo uno de solo tres paises del mundo (junto a Japon y Corea del Sur) que logran esto

Climate

•Tropical humedo (Af) en el suroeste (zona humeda)
•Tropical de sabana (Aw) en el norte y este (zona seca)
•Templado de montaña en las tierras altas centrales

Main biomes

•Selva tropical humeda (zona humeda del suroeste)
•Bosque seco monzonico (zona seca del norte y este)
•Bosque montano de neblina (tierras altas centrales)
•Manglares y humedales costeros
•Selva húmeda tropical
•Bosque monzónico seco
•Bosque nublado de altitud
•Pradera de altura
•Embalse antiguo o tanque
•Manglar y laguna
•Arrecife de coral

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•Arrecifes de coral costeros
•Manglares en zonas de estuario

Flagship wildlife

•Elefante de Sri Lanka
•Leopardo de Sri Lanka (subespecie endemica)
•Oso perezoso
•Ballena azul (aguas del sur de la isla)
•Elefante asiático
•Oso bezudo
•Gallo de Lafayette
•Langur de cara morada
•Cachalote
•Tortuga verde
•Cocodrilo de las marismas
•Loris esbelto

Notable endemic species

•Uno de los paises con mayor tasa de endemismo del mundo: aprox. 30% de sus 4.500 especies de plantas y 30% de sus 5.000 especies animales son endemicas, con la mayor densidad de especies por unidad de area de Asia para plantas con flor, anfibios, reptiles y mamiferos
•916 de 3.210 especies de plantas con flor son endemicas
•Descubrimiento de 35 nuevas especies de rana en la decada previa a 2005
•Leopardo de Sri Lanka
•Gallo de Lafayette
•Langur de cara morada
•Loris esbelto rojo
•Ardilla gigante de Sri Lanka

Notable threatened species

•41% de las especies endemicas de arboles registradas en menos de 10 individuos en estudios de transectos, señal de vulnerabilidad extrema
•17 especies de rana han desaparecido en la ultima decada y otras 11 estan en riesgo inminente de extincion (dato historico, situacion puede haber cambiado)
•Leopardo de Sri Lanka (Vulnerable, subespecie endemica)

Notable protected areas

•Parque Nacional Yala (mayor densidad de leopardos del mundo)
•Bosque de Sinharaja (Patrimonio Mundial, selva tropical primaria)
•Parque Nacional de Yala
•Reserva Forestal de Sinharaja
•Parque Nacional de Horton Plains
•Parque Nacional de Minneriya
•Parque Nacional de Wilpattu
•Parque Nacional de Udawalawe

Main conservation threats

•Desarrollo agricola, industrial y urbano bajo fuerte presion demografica
•Perdida de diversidad genetica en poblaciones silvestres, incluidas especies medicinales
•Sobrecoleccion comercial de especies para acuarismo y ornamentacion (peces de agua dulce, orquideas)

Conservation

Conflict between elephants and farmers causes numerous deaths every year on both sides and is the country's main conservation challenge. Sinharaja, the last great fragment of primary rainforest, is a World Heritage Site.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Minneriya between August and September for the Gathering of elephants. Mirissa between December and April for blue whales. Yala in the dry season for leopards.

Sources: UNDP - Conserving Sri Lanka's Plant Biodiversity | lankawebsites.com - Why Sri Lanka Has One of the Highest Endemism Rates | worldrainforests.com - Sri Lanka Environmental Profile | CBD - Biodiversity Conservation in Sri Lanka NBSAP

Rainforest Mountain Freshwater Ocean

Natural phenomena in Sri Lanka

Avistamiento de ballena azul en Sri Lanka — Noviembre a abril

Parks and reserves

Forest Reserve

Sinharaja Forest

The last great remnant of primary lowland rainforest surviving in Sri Lanka

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Llanuras de Horton

It ends abruptly at World's End, an 880-metre sheer drop with views to the sea on a clear day

View park National Park

Kumana

Known as the eastern Yala sanctuary; its main lagoon holds the largest nesting waterbird colony in Sri Lanka

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Minneriya

Host of The Gathering, the largest concentration of Asian elephants documented in the world, with up to 300 animals meeting at a 3rd-century reservoir

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Udawalawe

Formed after a reservoir was built in the 1960s; it holds Sri Lanka's only elephant orphanage run inside a national park

View park National Park

Wilpattu

Sri Lanka's largest and oldest national park, closed for almost two decades by the civil war (1988-2003, reopened 2010)

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Yala

One of the highest leopard densities in the world

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Diving and snorkelling

Deep wreck (aircraft carrier)

Pecio HMS Hermes

The first aircraft carrier in the world designed as such from the keel up, delivered to the Royal Navy in 1924. On 9 April 1942, with no air cover and no aircraft aboard, she was spotted by a Japanese reconnaissance plane off Batticaloa and attacked by a formation of Aichi D3A dive bombers launched from Nagumo's carriers. She took some forty direct hits and sank in under an hour. Three hundred and seven men died, among them Captain Richard Onslow. She lies capsized on her port side.

View dive site Coral reef