The Everglades and its wildlife

The Florida Everglades is a unique environment. covering 13,000 square miles of different habitats, it is home to abundant variety of wildlife, the most famous of which is the alligator.

Climate

The Florida Everglades is a subtropical environment that has two distinct seasons. During the wet season of the summer, May to October, rainfall can be very heavy, and the climate is warm and humid. This moisture encourages a multitude of insects, which are a vital element in the Everglades' food chain. The area is also frequently swept by hurricanes, which can cause extensive damage, but they also keep the habitat and environment in a healthy state of change.
Winter is the dry season in the Everglades. Without rain, the water levels in the shallow rivers and swamps fall drastically. Those animals that cannot migrate to escape the drought, or those that are unable to find a waterhole, may die in the long dry season. Some small reptiles burrow deeply in the cool, moist mud until the doughty dry season is over.

Desolate Plains

High, arid steppes from Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia through Peru up to Eucador. on the southern plateau, called the puna, sand-laden, stinging winds bend the sparse vegetation into strange forms, and nights are bitterly cold.

Lizards,rodents, and birds equipped to retain body heat live amoung the thin vegetation under harsh conditions.

The Andean condor, the world's largest birdm feeds on carrion. With its huge wing span reaching up to 10 feet, it soars in mountain thermals and glides long distances searching for food.

Pumas, antlered deer, and relatives of the camel- vicuna, lama, aplaca., and guanaco- live on the high steppes. Now protected, the vicuna was hunted almost to extinctiob for the soft, fine wool on its hide.

Other animals, like the chinchilla rodent, have also survived large-scale hunting.

Conserving the Everglades and its wildlife

The population of Florida has grown enormously over the last 50 years and with it the demands for water supply. Water is needed for drinking, agriculture, sewage dilution, and industrial purposes. Much of the water in the everglades is being artificially drained and is diverted to serve the urban population. This tug-of-war between man and nature has put the Everglades habitat and its wildlife in great danger.
The Everglades is, essentially, a drainage area. Northern rainfall slowly filters south, feeding and nourishing the region. Loss of water is threading the survival if wildlife in the delicate ecosystem.
In 1947, Everglades Nation Part was established. Although the park covers only 2,020 square mile in the southernmost Everglades, the park's management has become increasingly concerned about the survival of the entire region and its inhabitants. One of its aims is to protect the endangered species, including Florida panther, manatee, green sea turtle, peregrine falcon, and the Cape Sable sparrow.

Hammocks

Hardwood hammocks are small islands in the freshwater plants of the everglades. They consist of hardwood tropical trees and smaller plants that grow about 10 feet above the water level and the rest of the terrain.
The wildlife that inhibits the hammocks and their surrounding includes the colorful Lieges tree snail, the weaver spider, and the barred owl, which comes out at night to hunt.

Original Features

When the last Ice Age began, the ocean started to recede and the area that is now southern Florida was formed. Today, this area is known as the Everglades.
The Everglades is characterized by prairies of tall sawgrass that grow in swampy, shallow water. Sawgrass can grow up to 12 feet high. During the rainy season in summer, a river 50 miles wide and only 6 inches deep flows south through the tall sawgrass toward the sea.