Mount Data is a mountain located in the Cordillera Central mountain range rising to a height of 2,310 meters (7,578 feet) in the north of Luzon Island, Philippines. It is about 50 kilometers north of Baguio on the borders of the provinces of Benguet and Mountain Province along the Halsema Highway. The mountain and surrounding area has been declared a National Park since 1936. In 1940 the park was expanded to 5512 hectares. The slopes of the mountain are covered with pine forests and mossy oak forests.
Fauna
Mount Data is known for its great biological diversity and is a place that has long been in the attention of biologists. In 1895, the Englishman John Whitehead gathered a vast collection of mammals and birds from the mountain. This mammal collection was then donated to the British Museum. A research by renowned zoologist Oldfield Thomas showed that many unknown species inhabit the area. Half a century later, a large collection of small mammals was collected by an expedition led by the Filipino biologist Dioscoro S. Rabor. Some of these mammals are Carpomys melanurus (short-footed Luzon tree rat) and Carpomys phaeurus (white-bellied Luzon tree rat).
In addition to several rare species of mammals, there are also some bird species like the Collocalia whiteheadi (Whitehead's swiftlet) which was only known then from a specimen that was caught during the expedition of John Whitehead on the mountain.
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