• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
The site is a National Park covering 36,000 ha of the High Atlas, including the highest mountain in Morocco, Jbel Toubkal (4,167 m). Located only 60 km south of the town of Marrakech, the dramatic mountain scenery attracts thousands of visitors each year, many of whom climb Jbel Toubkal or trek elsewhere in the park. The mountain summits are often only slightly above the level of their surrounding high plateaus, which are separated by deep valleys. The park extends from 1,000 m upwards and therefore encompasses a range of vegetation-types, from forest to alpine meadow. Forest only covers 15% of the park, and consists mainly of the oldest Quercus rotundifolia stands in the High Atlas and Juniperus thurifera. Along the valleys, irrigated agriculture is practised and most of the park is used for extensive livestock-grazing.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. More than 95 breeding species have been recorded, among them nine species of the Mediterranean North Africa biome. Thirteen raptors are recorded, among them Gypaetus barbatus, which definitely bred in the park until 1980. The Parc National de Toubkal is one of only two areas in Morocco where Apus caffer has been recorded breeding, and also holds several species with quite localized distributions in Africa, such as Rhodopechys sanguinea and Eremophila alpestris.

Non-bird biodiversity: Until the 1960s the large carnivore Panthera pardus panthera (CR) survived here, but it is now considered extinct. There is an increasing population of the ungulate Ammotragus lervia (VU)—up from a few dozen individuals in the 1960s to 400 in 1996—and troops of the primate Macaca sylvanus (VU) occur. The gazelle Gazella cuvieri (EN) is being reintroduced in an enclosure. Seven endemic reptiles are present: Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus, Lacerta andreanskyi, Psammodromus microdactylus, Chalcides montanus, C. polyepsis, Ophisaurus koellikeri and Vipera monticola. The Parc National de Toubkal is also rich in endemic plants; indeed, of the 145 endemic Moroccan plant taxa, 24 have only ever been recorded from the park. Levels of plant endemism increase at higher altitudes: for example, of the 19 plant species found above 3,800–3,900 m, 15 are endemic.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Parc National de Toubkal (Morocco). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/parc-national-de-toubkal-iba-morocco on 23/12/2024.