Coto de Doñana
| Doñana National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Marshes of Doñana in Huelva province
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| Location | Huelva, Seville and Cádiz provinces - Andalusia, Spain |
| Coordinates | 37°00′N 6°30′W / 37.000°N 6.500°WCoordinates: 37°00′N 6°30′W / 37.000°N 6.500°W |
| Area | 543 km2 (210 sq mi) |
| Established | 1969 |
| Visitors | 392,958 (in 2007) |
| Governing body | Andalusian Autonomous Government |
| Type | Natural |
| Criteria | vii, ix, x |
| Designated | 1994 (18th session) |
| Reference no. | 685 |
| State Party | Spain |
| Region | Europe and North America |
| Extensions | 2005 |
| Designated | May 4, 1982 |
Doñana National Park is a natural reserve in Andalusia, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva and Seville. It covers 543 km2 (209.65 sq mi), of which 135 km2 (52.12 sq mi) are a protected area. The park is an area of marshes, shallow streams, and sand dunes in Las Marismas, the delta where the Guadalquivir River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It was established as a nature reserve in 1969 when the World Wildlife Fund joined with the Spanish government and purchased a section of marshes to protect it. The eco-system has been under constant threat by the draining of the marshes, the use of river water to boost agricultural production by irrigating land along the coast, water pollution by upriver mining, and the expansion of tourist facilities. It is named after Doña Ana de Silva y Mendoza[] wife of the seventh Duke of Medina-Sidonia.
Doñana National Park has a biodiversity that is unique in Europe, although there are some similarities to the Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue of the Camargue river delta in France, with which Doñana Park is twinned. The park features a great variety of ecosystems and shelters wildlife including thousands of European and African migratory birds, fallow deer, Spanish red deer, wild boars, European badgers, Egyptian mongooses, and endangered species such as the Spanish imperial eagle and the Iberian lynx.
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