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Chile’s giant ‘living fossil’ frog faces threat from climate change and humans

December 18, 202489 Views

A giant frog species that hopped alongside dinosaurs and is considered a "living fossil" is now losing ground in its native Chile as climate change and human intervention damage its habitat. The Calyptocephallela gayi, or Helmeted Water Toad, is one of the largest frogs in the world, growing up to over 30 cm (1 foot) in length and weighing up to 1 kg (2.2 lbs). Environmental researchers extract genetic material from a Chilean frog's leg (Calyptocephalella gayi) in a wetland in the middle of a neighbourhood in the city of Quilpue, Chile, December 8, 2024. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido The amphibian has seen little genetic variation for millions of years, but now its future is at risk, scientists say. "It's sad that a species that managed to coexist with dinosaurs, that managed to res...

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Locals move to protect Chile’s giant desert geoglyphs scarred by off-roaders

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

November 12, 202486 Views

Over a thousand years ago, the hundreds of giant geoglyphs carved into the desert in northern Chile were a bustling scene. They marked sources of water in the vast arid landscape and were where locals came together to trade skins, animals and fish. Now the carvings are scarred with hundreds of tire tracks from motorcycles and off-road vehicles tearing through the art creations in the landscape and permanently disfiguring them. A visitor walks past the ancient geoglyphs of 'Cerros Pintados', at Atacama desert, in Iquique, Chile October 29. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado "It's practically destroyed by motorcycles, off-roaders," said Jose Barraza, general director of the regional national patrimony office. He said various groups were trying to preserve the site to prevent any more destruc...

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Chile desert surprises with rare winter bloom

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

July 10, 2024216 Views

The sand dunes of Chile's Atacama desert, the driest on the planet, have been blanketed by white and purple blooms in recent days after early rains caused flowers to spring up in the dead of the Southern Hemisphere winter. The Atacama has been dubbed the "flowering desert," with resistant seeds and bulbs enduring the harsh weather to pop up as flowers every few years in the spring. But recent heavy rains, attributed to the weather phenomenon known as El Nino, have caused them to bloom early. There have not yet been enough winter blooms to officially be considered an occurrence of the "flowering desert," according to Cesar Pizarro, who heads biodiversity conservation for the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), an organization run by the Chilean government. But more rains are expe

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Scientists discover duck-billed dinosaur roamed Chile 72 million years ago

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

June 17, 2023938 Views

A duck-billed herbivorous dinosaur roamed the ancient and remote river plains of Patagonia in southern Chile some 72 million years ago, a new study revealed on Friday. Scientists have dubbed the dinosaur Gonkoken nanoi and say it weighed up to a metric ton and could grow to 4 meters (13.12 feet) in length according to the study published in Science Advances. A paleontologist checks fossilized bones of the 'Gonkoken nanoi', a newly identified duck-billed dinosaur, that inhabited the Chilean Patagonian area, at El valle del rio de las Chinas, near Torres del Paine, Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile, in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters on June 15, 2023. Universidad de Chile/ Handout via REUTERS In 2013, an expedition led by the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) ...

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Chile’s firefighting goats protect a native forest from deadly blazes

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

May 14, 2023785 Views

In the southern Chilean city of Santa Juana, hit hard by wildfires earlier this year, locals have a special taskforce helping fight blazes: a herd of goats. The goats have already saved the native forest of the Bosques de Chacay once, preventing the park from being consumed by February forest fires - fueled by heatwaves and a punishing drought - that left dozens dead, thousands injured and almost 440,000 hectares destroyed in south-central Chile. Rocio Cruces, founder of the "Buena Cabra" (Good Goat) project, an initiative that relies on goats to control dry pastures and other vegetation that fuel forest fires in the summer, feeds goats at her stable in a forest in Santa Juana, Chile, May 11, 2023. REUTERS/Juan Gonzalez "The park was surrounded by fires, but it ended up being the...

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A boy and his boat help Chile firefighters combat blazes

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 11, 2023968 Views

Chilean wildfires destroy hundreds of homes, endanger world's smallest deer As his parents fought wildfires threatening their home in southern Chile, 13-year-old Lucas Cespedes decided to take action, ferrying firefighters across the local river in a small yellow rowing boat to help them put out the flames. The Andean country is battling some of the worst wildfires in years that have claimed 24 lives and burned through over 340,000 hectares (840,158 acres), affecting more than 5,400 people, destroying over a thousand homes and burning up the habitats of vulnerable woodland animals. Lucas Cespedes, 13, rows his boat during an interview with Reuters, close to his house on the shores of the river Futa, on the outskirts of Valdivia, Chile February 9, 2023. REUTERS/Cristobal Saavedra ...

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French-born artist finds inspiration on remote Easter Island

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

January 3, 20231004 Views

Rapa Nui – the remote Chilean territory in the mid-Pacific widely known as Easter Island – is home to a Catholic church featuring artwork that reflects that islanders’ ancestral culture as well as Christian beliefs. Among the eye-catching works are stained glass windows -- created by a French-born artist – that portray figures resembling Rapa Nui’s inhabitants. The artist, Delphine Poulain, was born in Paris 52 years ago and has been in love with Rapa Nui since she first visited in 1994. She smiles at the memory. French-born artist Delphine Poulain poses for a portrait inside her home studio in Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, Chile, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. Poulain says she treasures the freedom and the tranquility provided by the remoteness of the island, home to about 7,70...

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Easter Island rebounds from wildfire that singed its statues

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 17, 2022974 Views

The hillside of Rano Raraku volcano on Rapa Nui feels like a place that froze in time. Embedded in grass and volcanic rock, almost 400 moai – the monolithic human figures carved centuries ago by this remote Pacific island’s Rapanui people -- remained untouched until recently. Some are buried from the neck down, the heads seemingly observing their surroundings from the underground. Around them, there has been a pervasive smell of smoke from still-smoldering vegetation – the vestige of a wildfire that broke out in early October. More than 100 moai were damaged by the flames, many of them blackened by soot, though the impact on the stone remains undetermined. UNESCO recently allocated nearly $100,000 for assessment and repair plans. The sun rises behind a line of moai statues on Ahu...

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On Easter Island, burned Moai statues are a symbol of growing tensions

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 7, 2022560 Views

Charred Moai stone statues on Easter Island, singed in a wildfire earlier this year, are signs of a growing tension between landowners and conservationists in this tiny, remote island in the middle of the Pacific. The island, which has been a Chilean territory since the 1880s, is known by its indigenous inhabitants as Rapa Nui and is famed for its huge monolithic human figures carved centuries ago by their ancestors. The 164-square-kilometer island - slightly smaller than Brooklyn - has seen tension grow in recent years between old families who want to raise cattle on their ancestral lands and authorities focused on conservation. Horses graze next to the the Moais at Ahu Tongariki archaeological site in Rapa Nui, Easter Island, Chile November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza O...

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From dump to urban wetland, wildlife returns to river in Chile’s capital

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

November 4, 2022570 Views

Birds, fish and flowers are returning to a river that cuts through Chile's capital after a decade-long effort transformed it from an eyesore filled with wastewater to an urban refuge for nature and wildlife. Mauricio Fabry, head of the regional government's environmental office, said it is working with local districts to officially declare Santiago's Mapocho River an urban wetland, with legal protections to safeguard environmental gains. A general view shows the Mapocho river flowing through the city during sunset, in Santiago, Chile, October 25, 2022. REUTER/Ivan Alvarado "The Mapocho River is probably the most important urban and environmental landmark in Santiago's metropolitan region," Fabry said, adding that three of the 16 localities along the river have already moved to pr...