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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travel articles and news about Chile
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...
Read MoreChilean 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 ...
Read MoreRapa 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...
Read MoreThe 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...
Read MoreCharred 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...
Read MoreBirds, 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...
Read MoreInvisible to human eyes, diversity in flower color and patterning is even greater for pollinators The Atacama Desert, which stretches for approximately 1,600 km along the western coast of the cone of South America, is the driest place on Earth. Some weather stations there have never recorded rainfall throughout their existence. But it‘s far from barren: many species live here that occur nowhere else, adapted to its extreme conditions. And approximately every five to 10 years, from September to mid-November, the Atacama hosts one of the most spectacular sights of the natural world: the ‘desierto florido’ (literally ‘blooming desert’). These mass blooms, one of which is currently going on in the northern Atacama after abundant rainfall earlier this year, often attract media attention fro...
Read MoreA number of Easter Island’s iconic ‘Moai’ stone statues suffered irreparable damage after a wildfire swept through the island earlier this week, the island’s mayor told Reuters on Friday. “It’s unquantifiable, unmeasurable, the damage there is, it’s irrecoverable,” said Pedro Edmunds, mayor of Easter Island, a territory of Chile. “Because what the fire does is heat the rock and the rock cracks.” He said scientists are going to visit the island alongside park administrators to evaluate the extent of the damage and determine what can be done. “I don’t know if there’s a solution for this,” Edmunds said. A preliminary report released by Chile’s culture, arts and heritage ministry stated that a wildfire that started on Tuesday swept through more than 60 hectares (148.26 acres) ...
Read MoreLocated at the tip of South America, where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet, Cape Horn in Chile is the closest land mass to Antarctica and home to a unique ecosystem that scientists say is a natural laboratory to study climate change. Ricardo Rozzi, director of the almost-completed Cape Horn International Center (CHIC), said the area has at least 10 features - including the world's southernmost forest - which make the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve ideal to monitor plant and animal life on a warming planet. A boat travels along Beagle channel, Cabo de Hornos area, Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, in Puerto Williams town, Chile, September 24, 2022. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado "in the north are coming south, but what happens to the ones here in the south? Do they vanish? Do they...
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