Photo Courtesy of: Everglades National Park

Photo Courtesy of: Everglades National Park

Photo Courtesy of: Everglades National Park

Everglades Day Trip & Airboat Tours

The largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, Everglades National Park is a truly magnificent vista. A place of wonder with its four major habitats and the variety of unique wildlife that inhabit the park, the Everglades is a must see while visiting south Florida.

Known as the River of Grass, the Everglades does not have a typical defined channel as most rivers, however don't let that fool you. Because grasses like sawgrass obstruct the view, water flows through the sloughs into Florida Bay making the River of Grass a very fitting name. Most of the 1.5 million acres of the park are either fresh or brackish water wetlands.

There are few places as biologically rich as the Everglades ecosystem. The Everglades boast four major habitat types: the sawgrass marsh, a low, wet area with fresh water flowing through it primarily during the wet season; mangrove, found in coastal channels it is a valuable nursery for shrimp and fish; hammock, dense stands of hardwood trees that grow on natural rises of only a few inches in the land; pinelands, dry rugged terrain on top of limestone ridge (fire is essential for survival of the pine community).

The Everglades habitats are home to a variety of wildlife species. Some wildlife species live in one habitat while others move from one habitat to another depending on food, water, shelter and territory. Here are just a few samples of wildlife each habitat supports.