1st CYCLE DIDACTIC UNIT of the Sierras de Cazorla Segura and Las Villas Natural Park

Ed

www.uniges3.net/cazorla

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it n ti o n a l U

The Natural Park

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1st CYCLE

http://www.uniges3.net/cazorla

Technical writing:

Hello, little friends!

My name is Cuca and I am a squirrel living in the Natural Park. The park is very large because it is formed of three beautiful mountain ranges; Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas. My friends the pines give me delicious pine cones to gnaw and eat pine nuts.

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Furthermore, the pines let us build our nests in their branches to protect us from the wind and the rain. We all get along very well and try to help each other.

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I am the Viola Cazorlensis. They say I am a rare species (endemic) because I like to live only in these mountain ranges and you will not be able to find me in other places.

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Like most plants, we need the insects to carry our pollen from one flower to another, be fertilized and bear fruit that will have seeds from which new plants will be born. In return, we give them sweet nectar that we make ourselves.

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I am Badger, the big eater.

Many living beings live in the Park and we interact with each other to feed, defend and reproduce (have sons and daughters).

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My house is a burrow we build by digging in the ground with our legs. Moles, shrews, rabbits and weasels also live in burrows.

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I am Otter, the mustachioed, I love to swim in rivers with clean, crystal clear waters.

Two very important rivers rise in the Natural Park: Guadalquivir and Segura rivers, but there are also other smaller rivers.

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We live in them, otters and other animals like trouts, frogs, tortoises, water rats, pond skaters, dragonflies‌ If you want to be our friends, you should not throw garbage or detergents into the rivers. And you, fishermen, you have to remember: “catch adult fish only.â€? Let them live!

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Hello, boys and girls, I am Mountain Goat, I am one of the most emblematic animals of your Natural Park.

Despite the fact that hunters and Scabies damaged us a lot some years ago, we live very happy today. .

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We love jumping from rock to rock in the Park’s highlands. Sometimes, we do it over almost vertical walls. And we share space and food with our friends the mouflons. In addition to grass, fruits, lichens, bark or sprouts that we eat, we love to lick the remains of salt that the shepherds give to their cattle.

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I am Deer, the largest mammal in the Park.

I share the fresh grass, acorns and tender branches with my friends the bucks, mouflons and mountain goats.

In September the male fight to see which of them is the strongest. This fight is called “the bellowing� and the winner mates the females to have healthy and strong children. We have new antler each year, this means the old one falls out and we get a new one.

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I am Little Owl and, as in the case of Owl, Barn Owl or Tawny Owl, I am bird of prey because I have strong claws and peak for hunting mice and rats.

During the day, we are hide and go out hunting at night.

We have a very silent flight and a developed night vision which allows us finding and trapping rodents without them noticing our presence.

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I am Weasel, although some call me a sausage mouse. Sometimes, when I don’t find anything to hunt and eat, I have to go to the pens of humans to give me the feast with some chicken.

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That’s why I have earned a bad reputation.

I’m sorry, but I have to survive!

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I am Vulture, the garbage collector. They call me so because I clean the mountain range of other animal carcasses. Well, more than cleaning them, I eat them. That’s why I’m a scavenger so as the Egyptian Vulture, the Bearded Vulture, the Crow or the Magpie.

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To safeguard my chicks, I build my nest on shelves of rocky walls. I like to fly planning in circles looking for some dead animal to feed me.

Please, humans, do not leave poisoned bait!

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Hi, I am Gypi, the Bearded Vulture, and I am the prettiest, the fastest and the most elegant of all the vultures of the region. I left many, many years ago since the humans used poisons, but I’m back again. I am also a scavenger and I am the only bird on the planet that feeds on bones, I throw them from a great height to break them against the ground to eat them more easily, although I also like the flesh of other animals.

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I live in large mountain systems, sharp and with abundant steep walls equipped with cavities and caves where I can make nests without being disturbed. I, like my friend the Vulture, I also ask humans not to put poisoned bait!

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Hi, I am Lizard from Valverde. It has been said that I am an Iberian endemism because you can only find me in the area of Sierras de Alcaraz (Albacete), Cazorla, Segura (JaÊn) and Castril (Granada). I live in high rocky areas of your Natural Park close to rivers or streams, shady places, because I don’t like to sunbathe like other lizards do, that bores me!

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Since I’m 13 cm tall and I am very slender and agile, I hide perfectly between the cracks in the rocks to flee from danger. I hope that you will watch out when you walk through the Natural Park, try not to step on me!

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I am Holm Oak, the wise. A few years ago, we were many more holm oaks living in the Park. However, humans cut us down to build ships and reforested the space with pines.

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Many areas of the Park have been transformed over time because people have built villages, hotels, campsites, swamps, roads‌ to live and work taking advantage of the natural resources.

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Thousands of tourists visit us every year, and they do not stop taking pictures everywhere.

Most of them do behave very well and don’t throw garbage, or throw cigarette butts in the forest, and respect the animals and plants that live here.

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After all, men and women need us and all of Nature in order to live, to enjoy it too as tourists do, and to get the wood from our trees and make furniture or paper; to make perfumes and colognes with aromatic plants (thyme, rosemary, lavender); take advantage of medicinal plants to cure their diseases; wild fruits (blackberries, strawberries, sloes, strawberry trees) to prepare delicious desserts; charcoal and picón for barbecues and braziers; and take advantage of honey from bees for a healty and natural diet‌ 26

The Natural Park of Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas provides jobs for many people.

Some work in preservation tasks: biologists, botanists, foresters, firefighting roadblocks; others in protective and monitoring tasks: forest rangers, Spanish civil guards of SEPRONA (Nature Protection Service).

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Others take advantage of forest resources: Beekeepers, shepherds, loggers‌ Nevertheless, tourism is the activity that has created more jobs in our mountains: tour guides, fishing and hunting, adventure sports specialists and many different jobs at bars, restaurants, hotels, campsites, stores‌

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Therefore, we must protect and preserve this important Natural Space, for its great beauty, outstanding ecological value, jobs and business that improve the economy of people in the Natural Park and nearby villages.

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If you want to help protect this wonderful natural place, remember: Do not light a fire or barbecues that could cause forest fire. Take your homemade snacks and enjoy the Nature.

Do not throw garbage in the forest or rivers.

Always bring a plastic bag to dump waste and then place in a trash bin.

Avoid making too much noise so as not to scare the animals.

Respect all living beings, animal and plants in the Park. All are important and the disappearance of a species can endanger the existence of another.

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This Didactic Guide has been completed thanks to the effort and devotion of a group of teachers and the staff of the Rural Development Association Sierra de Cazorla. Intended to serve pupils, teachers and other interested people, so as to achieve a better understanding and respect for nature around us, and especially for the Sierra de Cazorla, Segura and Villas Natural Park.

The Rural Development Association Sierra de Cazorla is a non-profit organization made up by the nine municipalities of the Comarca Sierra de Cazorla, by public and privative representatives and all the relevant economic and social agents, whose main objective is the social and economic development of our region through various programs, Rural Development (LEADER program), cooperation between regions, employment (Andalucía Orienta, EPES: internships at companies, training), Sociocultural (Sports, Culture, Cities against Drugs)‌

Peal de Becerro en la C/La Nava s/n www.comarcasierracazorla.es ceder@comarcasierracazorla.com

Tlf: 953 73 14 89

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Ed

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