Sierra del Merendón is a mountain range extending on the eastern border of Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

 and Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

. Its south-western border is marked by the Lempa River

Lempa River

The Lempa River is a 422 km long river in Central America. Its sources are located in between the Sierra Madre and the Sierra del Merendón in southern Guatemala, near the town of Olopa. In Guatemala the river is called Río Olopa and flows southwards for 30.4 km before entering Honduras and...

 valley, its northern border by the Motagua River

Motagua River

The Motagua River is a long river in Guatemala. It rises in the western highlands of Guatemala where it is also called Río Grande, and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The final few kilometres of the river form part of the Guatemala/Honduras border...

 valley. The mountain range has several different biome

Biome

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...

s and habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s, including cloud forest

Cloud forest

A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...

s.

The Cusuco National Park

Cusuco National Park

Cusuco National Park is a national park in Honduras. It was established on 1 January 1959 and covers an area of .Cusuco National Park is a protected area in the Merendon mountains of northwest Honduras. The park ranges from just above sea level in the west to in the middle. The park comprises a...

 (Parque Nacional El Cusuco) is located on the Honduran side and protects an area 23,440 hectares of temperate forest in the Merendón mountain range. The core zone is located at an altitude of 1,800 - 2,242 m. (15° 29.8' − 15° 32.1' N, 88° 13.0' − 88° 16.3' W).
Predominant forest habitats in the park are cloud forest

Cloud forest

A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...

s (1,500 - 2,242 m), semi-arid pine forests on south-facing slopes (800 - 1,500 m), wet deciduous forests on north-facing slopes (500 - 1,500 m).