Tijuca Forest

Hikers approach the top of the Tijuca Peak with of downtown Rio, top, in the background, from the Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The park, a forested mountain surrounded by an intensely populated urban area, is a model of preservation of the Brazil's Atlantic Forest ecosystem, of which only 7% remains. It is allegedly the largest urban forest in the world, and declared a National Park in 1961. Formerly a coffee planting area and Rio's water source, Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II had the area completely reforested in the 1860s as the city's water supply began to dwindle. It is home to hundreds of species of plants and wildlife, many threatened by extinction (Australfoto/Douglas Engle)

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