Island jewel: carved and shaped by the sparkling rivers that feed its valleys and ravines, Coiba--the largest, most untouched, and unpopulated island of Central America--is part of a larger regional initiative designated a World Heritage Site.

• Author: Balaguer, Alejandro

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On terra firma, the raucous sounds and flashes of red over the enormous forest canopy have disappeared. The boisterous scarlet macaws have departed, perhaps forever, from the continental forests of mainland Panama. But while the pressures of human expansion have caused the macaws to flee the isthmus, these colorful birds can still count on one very special and remote spot where they can live freely in the wild: Coiba Island.

Coiba is the largest forested tropical island in the Americas and is part of an archipelago of the same name now designated asa national park. Here, in their last refuge, large numbers of scarlet macaws can be seen feeding in almond or fig trees, or flying in pairs, like crimson brushstrokes over the intense green of the park's pristine forests.

Coiba National Park and its Special Marine Reserve, part of more than a million total acres of wilderness area, have three of the most productive ecosystems on the planet: mangroves, coral reefs, and tropical forest. Part of park's extraordinary natural wealth comes from the fact that it is still 80 percent covered by old growth forests, the home to endangered species. In addition to the scarlet macaw, the park hosts other very special endemic fauna like the crested eagle, the Coiba agouti, anda unique species of howler monkey. All together, 36 mammal species, 147 bird species, and 39 species of amphibians and reptiles have been found on the islands.

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The ocean area surrounding the island has more endemic species than any other such place on the planet, according to Juan Mate, a Smithsonian Institute biologist stationed in Panama and the person responsible for the area's management plan. "It's fascinating. Here 90 percent of the mollusks and at least 80 percent of the fish are only found here. We have recorded eighteen species of coral, of which, seventeen percent are endemic," he says.

The huge expanses of splendid and productive turquoise sea is home to the whale shark, manta ray, marlin, sailfish, yellow-finned tuna, and more than 60 species of fish, in addition to the humpback whale, the orca, the pantropical spotted dolphin, and the bottle-nosed dolphin.

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Part of Coiba's fame came decades ago from its sharks, primarily the feared tiger shark and bull shark who, along with others of this magnificent species, are the biggest predators and the best ecological regulators in the world. For more than 400 million years, from even before the time when dinosaurs disappeared from the Earth, sharks have maintained the balance and health of the oceans.

Back in the days when Coiba was a prison, sharks were plentiful, making it almost impossible for prisoners to escape the island. But recently their number has dropped precipitously, and their survival is more endangered than it has ever been. The same thing is happening with the devil ray, a member...