Its wetlands and wildlife draw large numbers of birders, anglers, boaters, and other outdoor enthusiasts. The Everglades also provides critical, and often undervalued, benefits to people, called ecosystem services. For example, the Everglades ecosystem provides drinking water for one-third of Floridians and irrigation for much of the state's agriculture. The wetlands improve water quality by filtering out pollutants and absorbing excess nutrients, replenish aquifers, and reduce flooding.
The Everglades is internationally known for its extraordinary wildlife. More than bird species can be found in Everglades National Park alone. The Everglades is known for its many wading birds, such as white and glossy ibises, roseate spoonbills, egrets, herons, and wood storks.
It also hosts huge numbers of smaller migratory birds. Some birds, such as the snail kite, wood stork, and Cape Sable seaside sparrow are threatened or endangered species. The Everglades' most endangered animal, a mammal, is the Florida panther. Fewer than individuals now survive. Other well-known Everglades mammals are water-dwellers, such as the West Indian manatee , which is also endangered, and the bottlenose dolphin.
Both alligators and crocodiles live in the Everglades and are sometimes mistaken for each other. American alligators like deep, freshwater channels of water called sloughs and wet prairie, where they dig out ponds for nesting. The American crocodile lives in the coastal mangroves and Florida Bay. In addition to these reptiles , Everglades National Park alone has 27 different kinds of snakes.
The diversity of Everglades' habitats means there's also a great diversity of plants. In wetland prairies and marshes, plants range from salt-loving sawgrass and bladderwort to cypress and mangrove trees. Pine trees and hardwoods are found on "tree islands", or hardwood hammocks.
The Everglades is also home to a high diversity of beautiful orchids, some of which spend their entire life up in the trees, getting their nutrients through aerial roots from the air, rain, and organic matter around them. The Everglades is being threatened by numerous plants and animals that were introduced both on purpose and by accident. Some introduced species become a small part of the landscape, while others thrive at the expense of native plants and wildlife. But the park is best known for its mangroves, sawgrass prairies, and freshwater slough that draws water from Lake Okeechobee southward.
The work to preserve the Everglades started nearly 20 years before the park was established. In , landscape architect Ernest Coe began an effort to designate a national park in south Florida. His persistence paid off when Congress passed legislation in to establish Everglades National Park. It took another 13 years to acquire the land and define the boundaries of the new park. The Everglades is teeming with plant and animal species not found anywhere else on the planet. The Everglades provides important habitat for numerous species like the manatee, American crocodile and the elusive Florida panther.
Check out tips for staying safe while viewing wildlife. The Everglades receives an average of 60 inches of rain a year. To put that in perspective, Seattle, Washington, receives a little more than half of that annual amount!
Exploring the third largest national park in the lower 48 states can be quite adventurous. Visitors can canoe or kayak hundreds of miles of water trails, bike through pine rocklands or enjoy world-class fishing. Check out more amazing activities to experience in the Everglades.
From the original Archaic period settlements to the modern tribal communities of the Miccosukee and Seminole Indians, the region has a rich history of human culture. Learn more about the people who have called the Everglades home throughout the ages. Invasive species are threatening the Everglades ecosystem. Noosa Everglades. Florida Everglades. Upper Noosa River. View from Laguna Lookout, Noosa. Freshwater croc. Everglades Lake Swim. We offer kayak tours in the Noosa area of the Sunshine Coast.
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