Fauna

Flora

FAUNA IN LA RIOJA

Fauna in here adapted to this unfavourable weather along with the flora. Especially the mammals, which had to get rid of the water in their bodies through two of their vital functions: urine and transpiration - respiration, in order to cool their bodies by evaporation.

Mammals
Many of them are of nocturnal habits to escape the hottest hours, or live in caves in view that temperatures inside the earth are lower. Rodents such as guinea pigs, vizcachas, different country mice, and armadillos like the crying so called pichi and the blind pichi, little known, hard to spot and on the brink of extinction, seek refuge in these caves. There are also wild boars, rabbits, hares, and other rodents in the area.
Guanacos, llamas and vicuñas are typical in ravines and creeks. The guanaco and the mara, or Patagonian hare, are the main herbivores in the area.

The carnivores include the grey fox, zorrillas, tayras and felines such as the pampas cat, the pajonales cat and the puma, a predator that still roams by the bushes and which is considered a threat to cattle in the zone, causing the diminishment of vicuñas in valleys and prairies, and the almost total extinction of the chinchilla.

Reptiles
Amphibious are represented by numerous species of toads and frogs that make use of the few water deposits subsisting after the rainy season. Amongst them, the agile frog (Rana dalmatina), a small amphibious no bigger then 8 or 9 centimetres, stands out.

We find a great variety of lizards, iguanas and caimans, such as the red caiman; harmless snakes such as vizcacha eating boa, but also venomous serpents such as the small fer the lance, the rattlesnake, and the coral viper, whose venom is used to produce an anti venom serum.

Insects
One of the best known is the coyuyo or vinchuca or traitomine insects (Triatoma infectans) which transmits the chagas disease, and whose habitats of choice are ranch houses and precarious dwellings in general.

Birds
Avifauna in Rioja is very rich and variegated. The majestic condor gliding in search of carrion to feed on, heads the list of birds. The small rheas or choiques are common on the plains. There are also birds of prey such as puna hawks, eagles, falcons, hawks and chuñas, caracaras; Elegant Crested Tinamou., grey tinamou and blacklegged socalled chuñas, along with numerous species of small birds such as the Carbonated sierra-finch and the sand cock, proper of the zone, which complete this collection of samples.

FLORA IN LA RIOJA

The vegetation is characterised by scarce flora, typical of an arid and warm weather. Just a few herbaceous plants grow amongst the crags of the mountainous zone of the Northwest, defying the altitude, the lack of water, the rigorous weather and the poor soil. Bushes that can withstand droughts, and tough trees that form sparse woods, typical of the Argentine mountains, develop in the sierra ravines in the centre of the Province. Talas, breas, pichanas, brooms, various cacti and espinillos of twisted trunks and thorny branches grow in here. Woods of chañares and huge thistles also populate this dry land.

Hard and resistant grasses grow on the sandy grounds of the Southeastern zone along with some shrubs, such as the olivillo. On the other hand, the jume, the sampa and the cachiyuyo develop on salty soils.

The last concentrations of the bush called chica grow in the shape of tiny hills in the most secluded zones. The entire area of plains and flatlands is covered, though in a non-continued way, by the jarilla, a thorn-less shrub with yellow flowers and small, resinous, hard to digest leafs that protect it from herbivores.

The presence of locust trees is predominant in small canyons or deep creeks, cut in the Sierra de Los Tarjados by the Talampaya Stream, along with chañares, breas, garabatos and espinillos.