ABSTRACT
The Llanos are an extensive region of seasonally-flooded tropical plains consisting of grasslands and forests shared by Venezuela and Colombia. Artificially divided by the international boundary between the two countries, they in fact comprise a single ecosystem that stretches in a northeast direction from the foothills of the Colombian Andean Mountains and along the course of the Orinoco River nearly to its delta in the Atlantic Ocean. Limited by the Andes in the west, the Venezuelan Coastal Range in the north, and the Amazonian wilderness in the south, the region covers some 451,474 square kilometers. Around 39 percent (176,359 sq. km.) lies within Colombia accounting for 17 percent of that county’s territory, while 61 percent (275,115 sq. km.) make up 31.2 percent of Venezuela’s territory (Rivas et al. 2002, 265). During the dry season (November to April) the land is parched and the grass brown, brittle, and inedible while during the rainy season much of the area is inundated. Notwithstanding this harsh climate, the region teems with wildlife, harboring more than 100 species of mammals and over 700 species of birds. The Llanos also harbors the Orinoco crocodile, one of the most critically endangered reptiles on earth, along with other rare species including the Orinoco turtle, giant armadillo, giant otter, and several species of catfish.
