Have You Heard The Great News?

Puerto Rico's El Yunque National Forest (Caribbean National Forest) has been nominated among 261 other elite national and international candidate nature locations to participate in the New 7 Wonders of Nature worldwide campaign!

The second phase of the campaign has just begun and we need YOU to help ensure that El Yunque is now included in the select list of 77 semi-finalists in this exciting worldwide campaign!

Your Vote Will Make The Difference!

El Yunque has become a researcher’s treasure trove, drawing scientist from around the world and hosting prestigious projects, among them the most comprehensive study on Tropical Forests ever done. In 1976 UNESCO recognized the forest importance by naming it one of the original Biosphere Reserves, a world-wide network of ecologically vital forests.

El Yunque’s 7 Wonders of Nature

Now that you learned about El Yunque’s wonders of nature...

VOTE for El Yunque!

Before Voting make sure to:

  1. Please check the The New Live Ranking System
  2. El Yunque is under E Category – National Forests, Natural Reserves. Please be aware of the natural wonders in the same category. It is really important not to vote for them.
  3. To vote, please click here.
  4. Please follow the instructions very carefully. You’ll see that you will have to register with an e-mail address. When voting, you will have to select 7 wonders.
  5. Remember to select El Yunque – under NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA. When selecting the other six wonders, be aware not to vote for wonders under E Category, those are El Yunque’s direct competitors.
  6. After selecting all 7 wonders and doing the selections click on Submit. After submitting your options, you will have to register personal information. Review your selections and click submit again.
  7. Immediately after submitting your options you will receive an e-mail to the account you registered; please open this e-mail and confirm your selections, otherwise your vote won’t count.

Thank You for Supporting El Yunque Nomination!

El Yunque is Water!

El Yunque receives each year 284 million m3 of rainfall. The more global warming threatens our Earth with water scarce, the more important El Yunque becomes. It is worth mentioning . It is worth mentioning that El Yunque has 66 rivers.

Biodiversity = 5 Zones of Life

This forest reserve was proclaimed under the Spanish Crown in 1876. Today it is the only tropical rain forest in the US National Forest System and has more biodiversity than all of the other US National Forests. In its 28,000 acres, there are 5 life zones that house 1,200 plant species, 350 species of fungi, 97 species of birds, including 45 migratory, 35 species of amphibians and reptiles and 12 native mammals. Amazingly, El Yunque shelters 20 insect orders of the 29 orders existing in Planet Earth.

Dwarf Forest

How often you get to see a dwarf forest?

El Yunque house 5 different forests, the Dwarf Forest is a wonder of nature. The Dwarf Forest has an invaluable biological treasure. Many of the most exotic ferns (from the forest's 150 species) grow here. It is also the habitat of the island's rarest tree frog (among the island's 17 native species). The trees are small with twisted trunks and small thick leaves with roots that grow over the surface of the ground.

23 unique tree species

El Yunque houses 240 native tree species, 23 of these species only exist at El Yunque.

7 species of Bioluminiscent Fungus

El Yunque has 350 species of macro-fungi and near 10,000 micro-fungi species. Among macro-fungi species scientific groups have confirmed 7 as bioluminescent species (capable of glowing in the dark). Fungi are vital to forest's existence. They are nutrients - natural recycling entities. Ninety five percent of the trees in El Yunque need fungi to exist.

Puerto Rican Parrot habitat & habitat of various rare species

  • It is the habitat for the Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona vittata) and the Palo de Jazmín (Styrax portoricensis)two species in critical state of endangerment. El Yunque is also habitat for 82 native bird species.
  • El Yunque houses 1,200 plant species, of which 26 are rare, threatened or endangered.
  • El Yunque has 70 different orchid species, 50 of these species are Puerto Rican native orchids and orchid species Lepanthes eltoroensis is unique from the El Yunque National Forest.
  • El Yunque houses 13 species of the 17 native Puerto Rican tree frogs, called "coquís." The "dwarf coquí", one of the smallest frogs on earth, is unique to El Yunque.
  • From the invertebrates species, the Polydontes Luquillensis snail is unique to El Yunque.

"Pristine" Forest

Half of El Yunque National Forest remains "pristine" - or original forest with minimal human impact.