Biodiversity
“20 Amazing Animals of Venezuelan Llanos.” Osprey Expeditions, 17 June 2024, ospreyexpeditions.com/20-amazing-animals-of-venezuelan-llanos/. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Venezuela has a large history of animals and plants that are now extinct, such as Caribbean monk seals, táchira antpittas, Maracay harlequin frogs, red venter harlequin toads, green venter harlequin toads and Aragua rubber frogs and many more. These animals were all last found in Venezuela before their extinction. This current extinction (The Holocene Extinction) is the sixth mass extinction to ever occur. It is caused because of humans that hunted these animals—they were driven to extinction. The Holocene Extinction is causing animals and plants around the world to go extinct. More than one thousand times the amount of animals that were going extinct because of background extinction are now going extinct because of the Holocene extinction. Recently, the growth of the human population has made the Holocene Extinction even worse as more people are consuming more animals, driving even more to extinction. A mass extinction is classified as more than 75% of the species of animals in an area disappearing in a short timeframe.
Mass extinction
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Currently, Venezuela is the home of a great variety of animals, many of which are endemic (only found in Venezuela). 55% of the land in Venezuela is protected from hunting, in the form of national parks. In total, there are 2,398 species of vertebrates in Venezuela, 293 of which are endemic (such as the Orinoco crocodile). There are 344 species of amphibians, such as frogs and newts. There are 1,279 species of birds in Venezuela, such as Orinoco softtails and cotingas, 37 of which are endemic. There are 401 species of mammals such as giant otters and Brazilian squirrels, 20 of which are endemic. There are 384 species of reptiles, such as royal ground snakes and rainbow whiptails, 92 of which are endemic. Overall, Venezuela is taking steps to prevent the further extinction of any more animals and has a lot of protected land to ensure the safety of the diverse ecosystem that it currently has.
Some steps the government is taking include:
2010: Government passes laws establishing proper guidelines for animal treatment, to prevent further extinctions.
2018: The South American Initiative launches the Venezuela Zoo Animal Rescue Program. Its purpose is to provide food and medical care to animals, especially endangered animals, in both public and private zoos.
Current biodiversity
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