The most valuable heritage of Artenara is the natural landscape with its rich biodiversity. Lathe to turn the story of a people always dependent on your environment. A territory that brings together geological and biological elements which from time immemorial have attracted to the human being. Beaches, mountainous massifs, sea cliffs, ravines, tables and slopes are the support of diverse ecosystems, influenced by different microclimates, which are typical of an Ocean Island natural treasures.

olcanism and biodiversity offer in this small strip that crosses the Northwest of Gran Canaria a spectacle capable of awakening the interest of anyone.

“All good things are wild and free”. Henry David Thoreau.

Geology

The most surprising thing about volcanism of Artenara is its spectacular variety. The materials emitted during three major eruptive periods that gave rise to Gran Canaria, and their subsequent dismantling, lead to landscapes that cause amazement.

Fossil imprint of a sheet in the chipboard Roque Nublo.

This piece of land offers the opportunity to see the depths of the great volcano that makes between thirteen and fourteen million years ago drove out the main volume of the island; the impressive volcanic agglomerate originated in the second eruptive cycle - during which probably its life - and the piconeras covering the top product of one of the most recent eruptions of the Montañón Negro.

The Caldera with its stunning roques and singularly visible tapered system of docks, Dock Green, beach raised and fossilized in the Punta de Las Arenas, the table of accused - rest of the slopes of the stratovolcano of Roque Nublo-, the volcanic cone of Artenara up or the massifs of Azaenegue and Tamadaba are just some examples of the valuable geological heritage of Artenara.

Biology

If all the factors that make an oceanic island the ideal place to host a unique biodiversity in addition the insulation within the insulation, the different chemical composition of the rocks and a terrain that causes a variety of microclimates, you get an explosion of life with a huge amount of exclusive species of Macaronesia, Canary Islands, Gran Canaria or Artenara.

Cigarrón palo (Acrostira tamarani), Gran Canaria endemism.

In the municipality there are samples of almost all ecosystems Canaries, in varying degrees and with varying degrees of conservation. And as a result thousands of plants, animals and fungi are habitat between its coast and its Summit. Moreover, there are microorganisms, so far largely unknown and untold.

Among all this biodiversity is the phylum of invertebrates, a highly varied group of animals that includes most of the endemic species. This sector is "home" of many unique plants of the island, some very rare. Also the territory inhabited by birds and the place that others choose to rest during their migration. In addition, the only native terrestrial mammals - two bats - and three endemic reptiles of Gran Canaria live in Artenara.

“Every living being is unique and wonderful”. Mara Ramírez.