Brooding Hen
Famous shape.
GLandovsky — CC BY-SA 4.0 · GLandovsky — CC BY-SA 4.0 · GLandovsky — CC BY-SA 4.0 · GLandovsky — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Djooow — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lucimerio Araujo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Roberto K Machado — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Brooding Hen Rock is the most famous of Quixadá's giant monoliths, named for its shape like a hen sitting on her eggs, and it rises above the historic Cedro Dam. It is part of the Quixadá Monoliths Natural Monument, a fully protected area the state of Ceará created by decree on 25 October 2002 over 16,635 hectares. These inselbergs are residual formations left by long erosion in a semi-arid setting, standing out of the dry Caatinga scrub of the Ceará backlands in a rare landscape. The site holds rock paintings and prehistoric archaeological remains, many of them still little explored. Removing, dismantling or defacing the rocks, or fixing equipment to them, is forbidden, and the area is vulnerable to clearing, fires and mining. The views are best from around the dam, ideally in the morning or near sunset when the light softens and the heat eases.
Famous shape.
Dry scrub.
Prehistoric.
Quixadá, Ceará backlands
From around the Cedro Dam at its foot.
