Fauna

Flora

San Luis Nature ...

FAUNA IN SAN LUIS

In spite of the arid conditions of San Luis' geography, the fauna is abundant. Pumas, mountain cats, grey foxes, marmots and wild boars are the biggest carnivores allowing themselves to be caught by the eye of the traveller, although mostly by their tracks left by the scarce water holes. The mara, wrongly called the Patagonian hare, can be seen around the roads. The deer, formerly abundant, is sparse nowadays.

When travellers get into the heart of the province, they will open their senses little by little until becoming inundated by the melodious repertoire of its particular birds. The first ones to show off are the active so called teros, the yellow cardinals, the so called reinas mora and also the catita parakeets from the sierras.
But travellers will also encounter the so called pepiteros and monteritas, apart from a great variety of small birds. The bird list is completed with the rhea, the grey falcon, the collared peccary, the goldfinch, the cat thrush, the baker bird, and the majestic Andean condor.

Amphibious species are very scarce and they spend the dry season buried under ground or in small shaded puddles in the form of tadpoles.

The lizards are the most common reptiles. And the rodent eating boa is sought after for its beautiful skin.

There are also numerous aquatic birds, among which the common flamenco stands out. Atherines, trout and criollo perch can be found in its watercourses.

FLORA IN SAN LUIS

The Province of San Luis maintains three well differentiated zones: the woodland, the western Chaco (from the Quechua word chacu, meaning big game reserve), and in between, an ample transition fringe with extended plains.

In the woodland area we find extended arum and broom fields, which cover the most arid zones. There is a curious kind of tree with a tortuous aspect growing above Potrero de la Aguada, it is the so called chica, an endemic species of the woodland.

Other endemic species are the so called solo, which has the shape of a whitely coloured round cushion, the purslane, a vegetable with intense and flashy green colours and fleshy leafs, and the so called, with its violet shoots.

Diverse grasses emerge forming extended spots in the sandy ground's zone, the place where the sierra skirts begin, which is surrounded by different types of shrubs. Along them coexist corpulent white quebracho trees, as well as locust trees, thorny chañar trees and the so called brea bushes.

There are also carnauba palm tree stands along the border of the Comechingones sierra and also in Luján.

In the humid upper sierras the molle pepper trees start to show up, willing to show the travellers their leafy and shiny tops, and their pleasure of standing amidst a mixture of huckleberry and chañar trees.