Maya Forest

Maya Forest
Spanish: Selva maya

Mayan languages: Otoch k'aaxg
Maya Forest encompassing Tikal / 2004 photograph by Luis Bartolomé Marcos / via Commons
Map
Maya Forest
Geography
LocationBelize, northern Guatemala, southeastern Mexicoa
Coordinates17°48′56″N 89°09′07″W / 17.81556°N 89.15194°W / 17.81556; -89.15194b
Areaca 15,000,000 ha (150,000 km2) / totalc
> 3,000,000 ha (30,000 km2) / protectedc
Ecology
WWF ClassificationPetén–Veracruz moist forestsd
Dominant tree speciesBreadnut, sapodilla, cocoa, avocados, peppers, wild mamey, mylady, cohune, gumbolimbo, give-and-take, monkey apple, cabbage bark, dogwood, canistel, zapotillo, bayleaf, john crow redwood, hog plum, mahogany, Mayflower, guinep, walking lady, druken Baymane
FaunaJaguar, scarlet macaw, Baird's tapir, Yucatan black howler monkey, white-lipped peccary, Hickatee turtle, hawksbill turtle, keel-billed toucan, harpy eagle, Yucatan brown brocket, ocellated turkey, Morelet's crocodilef
a–g Cf

The Maya Forest is a tropical moist broadleaf forest that covers much of the Yucatan Peninsula, thereby encompassing Belize, northern Guatemala, and southeastern Mexico. It is deemed the second largest tropical rainforest in the Americas, after the Amazon, with an area of circa 15 million hectares (150,000 km2), of which at least 3 million (30,000 km2) lie within protected areas.