Wildfires in Argentina's north are forcing local species of wildlife including capybaras, marsh deer and anteaters to attempt to flee ahead of the flames, with many animals killed or injured while trying to escape as the fires spread. The blazes in Corrientes province, which borders Paraguay, have burned through nearly 900,000 hectares of forest and pasture land, some 12% of the region, including destroying habitats in the biodiverse Iberá Park wetlands. A capybara injured during a wildfire receives treatment by a veterinary at the Aguara Conservation Center in Paso de la Patria, province of Corrientes, Argentina February 23, 2022. REUTERS/Matias Baglietto "There are sectors of the Iberá where animals have been trapped," said Sofía Heinonen, executive director of Rewilding Argent...
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travel articles and news about countries and destinations in South America or Latin America
A huge "Moai" statue, one of the iconic stone monuments from Easter Island, began its journey back home on Monday following a years-long campaign to get it returned to its original setting since it was housed in a museum in Santiago in the 19th century. The 715 kilogram (0.72 tonne) sculpture will be transported by truck to the Chilean port city of Valparaíso, from where it will set sail on a naval ship on a journey of about five days to reach remote Easter Island, known locally as Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui natives play music to a Moai statue from Easter Island while it is displayed at the Natural History Museum before returning to the island, in Santiago, Chile, February 21, 2022. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado The initiative is part of a repatriation program seeking to return to the Pacific Oc...
Read MoreWildfires in Argentina's north have continued to spread through the province of Corrientes, burning more than 600,000 hectares, scarring farmlands and killing protected animals and plants in the major Ibera National Park, an important wetland area. Local authorities have sent firefighters, police and volunteers to fight some 15 blazes that have ripped through the region near the border with Paraguay, burning over 6% of the entire province, which has been hit by drought and high temperatures since late last year. Local residents and firefighters battle a wildfire that has spread to cover more than 500,000 hectares underscoring the impact of dry weather due to the Nina weather pattern, in Corrientes, Argentina, February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Sebastian Toba "More than 600,000 hectares h...
Read MoreBrazil recorded the most deforestation ever in the Amazon rainforest for the month of January, according to government data on Friday, as destruction continues to worsen despite the government's recent pledges to bring it under control. Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon totalled 430 square kilometers (166 square miles) last month, five times higher than January 2021, according to preliminary satellite data from government space research agency Inpe. That's the highest for January since the current data series began in 2015/2016, equal to an area more than seven times the size of Manhattan. FILE PHOTO: aerial view shows a river and a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino Environmental researchers said the...
Read MoreIn the Andean valleys of deepest, darkest Bolivia (not Peru this time), a "Paddington" bear has inspired a shelter for almost a thousand wild animals rescued from poachers. The type of Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus), the only one native to South America, is the inspiration behind beloved fictional bear Paddington, who travels to London, is adopted by a family and eats lashings of marmalade. Vicky Ossio tends to an Andean bear, the species that inspired the creation the Senda Verde ecological reserve which now shelters almost a thousand wild animals, in Los Yungas, Bolivia, January 31, 2022. REUTERS/Claudia Morales It was one such Andean bear in need of help called Aruma that led Vicky Ossio and her husband 15 years ago to turn their property about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from ...
Read MoreAn upside down house built in Colombia's Guatavita, a short distance from the capital of Bogota, is capturing the imagination of visitors looking for fun following coronavirus restrictions. Inside the house, which was designed by its Austrian owner Fritz Schall, who lives in Colombia with his family, tourists walk on ceilings where floors would normally be, while furniture is positioned beneath them. People pose for a photo inside the upside down house, in Guatavita, Colombia, January 23, 2022. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez "Everyone looked at me like I was mad, they didn't believe what I was saying," Schall said. "I said 'I'm going to make an upside down house,' and they told me, 'Ok sir, sure, go for it.'" Inspiration for building the house came from a trip to Schall's native...
Read MoreEcuador on Friday created a new marine reserve around its pristine Galapagos Islands -- whose rich biodiversity inspired Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution -- as it seeks to expand protections for endangered migratory species. Extending the reserve by 60,000 square kilometers (23,166 square miles) is the first step in a plan agreed by Ecuador with its close neighbors Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama at the U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow last year to create a common corridor through which species threatened by climate change and industrial fishing can migrate. The existing Galapagos marine reserve, one of the largest in the world, measures some 138,000 square kilometers (53,282 square miles), and the new conservation area will see 198,000 square kilometers (76,448 square miles) ...
Read MoreAt least seven people died and nine were seriously injured when a wall of rock collapsed on top of motorboats below a waterfall in southeastern Brazil on Saturday, the fire department said. A tower of rocks suddenly broke away from the canyon wall and came crashing down on several leisure boats, sending out a huge wave over the lake at Capitolio, in Minas Gerais state. A view shows the site where a wall of rock collapsed on top of motor boats below a waterfall as firefighters of Minas Gerais state (not pictured) seek for victims, in Capitolio, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil January 8, 2022. Fire Brigade of Minas Gerais/Handout via REUTERS Videos posted on social media showed tourists shouting as the column of rock crashed into the water, smashing two boats. Authorities said thr...
Read MoreIn June 2021, an unprecedented heat wave hit the Pacific Northwest and Canada, killing an estimated 1,400 people. On June 28, Seattle reached 108 F — an all-time high — while the village of Lytton in British Columbia recorded Canada’s highest-ever temperature of 121.3 F on June 29, the day before it was destroyed by a heat-triggered wildfire. Climate change is expected to bring more such extreme heat events globally, with far-reaching consequences not just for humans, but for wildlife and ecosystems. In 2019, University of Washington researchers witnessed this in Argentina at one of the world’s largest breeding colonies for Magellanic penguins. On Jan. 19, temperatures at the site in Punta Tombo, on Argentina’s southern coast, spiked to 44 C, or 111.2 F, and that was in the shade. A...
Read MoreRio de Janeiro has canceled street parades and parties during its world-famous Carnival for a second year due to an increase in COVID-19 cases and the threat from the arrival of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the city's mayor said on Tuesday. FILE PHOTO: A member of Beija-Flor samba school performs on a float during the second night of the 2020 Carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes However, the spectacular parade by Rio's samba schools, which the public watches from the stands of the city's Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome, will go ahead, unlike last year, with health precautions to prevent spreading the virus, he said. Rio mayor Eduardo Paes announced after a meeting with health authorities that the city would call of...
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