Península Valdés - Patagonia, Argentina - World Heritage Sites on Waymarking.com

Most of the Valdés Peninsula is barren land with some salt lakes. The only town on the peninsula is the small settlement of Puerto Piramides. There are also a number of estancias, where sheep are raised.

The site has a high diversity of birds. The peninsula's intertidal mudflats and coastal lagoons are important staging sites for migratory shorebirds. The Magellanic penguin is the most numerous with almost 40,000 active nests distributed among five different colonies.

Terrestrial mammals are also abundant. Large herds of guanaco can be seen throughout the peninsula and the mara, an Argentinean endemic, which is endangered in other parts of the country, is found here.

Statement of Significance: Peninsula Valdés contains very important and significant natural habitats for the in-situ conservation of several threatened species of outstanding universal value, and specifically its globally important concentration of breeding southern right whales, which is an endangered species. It is also important because of the breeding populations of southern elephant seals and southern sea lions. The area exhibits an exceptional example of adaptation of hunting techniques by the orca to the local coastal conditions.

From our pictures, one can see the Southern elephant seals, a Southern right whale, a guanaco, an a family of Magellanic penguins.

The coordinates were taken at Puerto Piramides where we did a whale watching cruise. It is a good place to see the Southern right whale in action.

Sources: UNESCO website (visit link) and Wikipedia (visit link)

Type: Natural Reference number: 937

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/25/2011 fhsosa visited it