[2] Jaragua National Park, named after the Taíno chiefdom of Xaragua, was established by Presidential Decree No.

1315 on August 11, 1983, to protect the Dominican Republic's Hispaniolan dry forests ecoregion and its endemic species.

Spanning the southern slopes of the Baoruco Mountain Range, from Oviedo to Cabo Rojo, Jaragua National Park includes dry forest, coastal mangroves and scrub, as well as dry, terrestrial areas inland and protected offshore marine habitats.

[3] Endemic avian species include the Greater Antillean bullfinch (Melopyrrha violacea), American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), Antillean piculet (Nesoctites micromegas), Greater Antillean grackle (Quiscalus niger), Hispaniolan emerald (Riccordia swainsonii), Hispaniolan mango (Anthracothorax dominicus), Abbott's northern potoo (Nyctibius jamaicensis abbottii), vervain hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) and the Hispaniolan parrot (Amazona ventralis), among many others.

Jaragua is the only protected area of the Paleoisla del Sur geoformation, one of two land masses to form from the foundation of Hispaniola between 20,000 to 30,000 B.C.