Ensayo Descriptivo De Puertorico

Puerto Rico




Puerto Rico is a small mountainous island that is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States. Located in the Caribbean Sea and is part of the MayorAntilles. It is in the tropics and has approximately 239 plants, 16 birds and 39 amphibians/reptiles which are mostly found in the main island. The total territorial area of Puerto Rico, including the twosmall neighboring islands that are politically depended to Puerto Rico, is approximately 3,435 square miles. Puerto Rico’s ecology is fascinating and diverse, from forest that have endangered speciesto caves, from invasions to modern times.




Roughly 142 million years old, geologically wise Puerto Rico is relatively young and most of its core of the Cordillera Central, an east-westtrending spine of mountains that run without interruption. The Cordillera Central is characterized by jagged peaks and steep slopes that are prone to landslides. Most of the main island is mountainouswith large coastal areas in the north and south. The highest elevation in Puerto Rico is called Cerro de Punta which is approximately 4,390 feet and is located in the Cordillera Central. Another peakis El Yunque, which is one of the highest peaks of the Sierra de Luquillo with an elevation of 3,494 feet. Coastal wise Puerto Rico has 17 man-made lakes and over 50 rivers, most of those originatingin the Cordillera Central.




There are very impressive facts of Puerto Rico’s ecology. For example, El Yunque is home to a greater part of the coquís, an endangered very small frog, andmore than 240 plant species, which 26 of them are common in Puerto Rico. It is almost a habitat for about 50 bird species, including the Puerto Rican Amazon, also known as “la cotorra puertorriqueña”,which is one of the top 10 endangered birds in the world. There are 240 species of trees; some are thousands of years old, 50 species of ferns, and 20 varieties of wild orchids and multitude of...