I was really surprised when I first saw a frailejon because I had never seen a succulent so big and protruding in the middle of fields.
Frailejones live in the páramos, an alpine-tundra ecosystem in South America, specifically the Andes mountains. In Colombia, I have seen frailejones during hikes or nature preserves near Bogota and in Boyaca, a mountain-filled department near Bogota. These plants are native to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
Frailejones are extremely resourceful creatures. They are able to capture the humidity from the air through their leaves and transform it into water, which is then used for rivers to sustain biodiversity in that area. Frailejones are especially important in the context of climate change as they are good indicators of climate shifts.
Frailejones, unfortunately, are in danger of extinction due to human activity, such as agriculture and mining.
