A record number of fires tore through Peru over the past few weeks, wreaking havoc across the country’s ecosystems as grasslands, dry forests, coastal areas, and the Amazon were set ablaze. In northern Peru, spectacled bears fled burning dry forests to nearby towns where some were shot by frightened residents. Jaguars in the southern Amazon, with nowhere to flee, were left charred on trees. Grasslands and wetlands that play a key role in storing water were left in ashes. “The rainforest is usually impervious to fire,” said Paul Rosolie, a conservationist and founder of JungleKeepers, an NGO that patrols and preserves the Amazon in Peru, adding that they’ve seen burned turtles, snakes, birds, and jaguars after recent patrols. “The forest is their world, so when you burn it, they die....
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travel articles and news about countries and destinations in South America or Latin America
Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered evidence that could point to a woman ruling in a coastal valley during the ancient Moche culture more than 1,300 years ago, including a stone throne and unique scenes depicted in elaborate wall paintings. The nature of the ancient murals "could indicate it was a woman who used the space, possibly a ruler," said Jessica Ortiz, research director for the project at the Panamarca archaeological site on Peru's northwest coast. A view of a lower figure painted on the pillar at the archaeological site of Panamarca where archaeologists have uncovered evidence that could point to a woman ruling in a coastal valley during the ancient Moche culture over 1,300 years ago. PRIA (Archaeological Research Program) Paisajes Arqueologicos de Panamarca - Lisa Treve...
Read MoreThe town of Hilario Ascasubi near Argentina's eastern Atlantic coast has a parrot problem. Thousands of the green-yellow-red birds have invaded, driven by deforestation in the surrounding hills, according to biologists. They bite on the town's electric cables, causing outages, and are driving residents around the bend with their incessant screeching and deposits everywhere of parrot poo. Parrots stand on power lines in the town of Hilario Ascasubi, which they invaded driven by deforestation in the surrounding hills, according to biologists, in Argentina, September 23, 2024. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian "The hillsides are disappearing, and this is causing them to come closer to the cities to find food, shelter and water," biologist Daiana Lera said, explaining that much of Argentina'...
Read MoreIndigenous chants and the rattle of maracas resounded Thursday in a Rio de Janeiro park, where Brazil’s Tupinambá people gathered to celebrate the homecoming of a sacred cloak absent for some 380 years. Made of feathers from the scarlet ibis, the artifact from northeastern Brazil resided in Copenhagen until the Danish National Museum donated the cloak to its Brazilian counterpart. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Indigenous Peoples Minister Sonia Guajajara attended a ceremony at Brazil’s National Museum atop a hill in the Boa Vista Park. “It is impossible not to appreciate the beauty and strength of this centuries-old and well-preserved piece, even after so much time outside Brazil, abroad. It is our commitment to preserve this heritage,” Lula said, addressing dozens o...
Read MoreSouth America’s rivers hit record lows as Brazil drought impact spreads
South America's Paraguay River, a key thoroughfare for grains, has hit a record low in Paraguay's capital Asuncion, with water levels depleted by a severe drought upriver in Brazil that has hindered navigation along waterways in the Amazon. A powerful drought in the Amazon rainforest led on Monday to the lowest water levels on the Paraguay River in more than a century, disrupting commerce on the major waterway, creating hazards for local transport and offering a grim warning for other parts of the world. People fish, amid smoke coming from wildfires in neighbouring countries, on the shores of the Paraguay River, which has hit a record low water level due to a major drought, in Asuncion, Paraguay September 7, 2024. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo Paraguay’s Department of Meteorology and Hydr...
Read MoreA team of biologists, vets and fishermen temporarily captured rare freshwater dolphins in the Amazon this week to study their health in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the deaths of hundreds of the mammals last year due to a severe drought. The dolphins, that are in danger of extinction, were brought ashore for blood tests and other examinations and returned to Lake Tefé in the Amazon basin as soon as the researchers had finished their work. Fishermen were careful not to injure an adult female dolphin during capture and kept her close to her young offspring to avoid stressing the animals. Field researchers from the Mamiraua Institute of Sustainable Development capture a rare Amazon river dolphin, also known as the pink river dolphin, during an expedition in Tefe, Amazonas state, Br...
Read MoreWarm morning light reflects from the remains of a natural rock arch near Darwin Island, one of the most remote islands in the Galapagos. In clear, deep blue water, thousands of creatures — fish, hammerhead sharks, marine iguanas — move in search of food. The 2021 collapse of Darwin’s Arch, named for the famed British naturalist behind the theory of evolution, came from natural erosion. But its demise underscored the fragility of a far-flung archipelago that’s coming under increased pressure both from climate change and invasive species. A piece of the edge of Darwin’s Arch is visible in the ocean above Pacific creolefish off of Darwin Island, Ecuador in the Galapagos on Thursday, June 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski) Warming oceans affect the food sources of many of the seago...
Read MoreRare images of the Mashco Piro, an uncontacted Indigenous tribe in the remote Peruvian Amazon, were published on Tuesday by Survival International, showing dozens of the people on the banks of a river close to where logging companies have concessions. The reclusive tribe has been sighted coming out of the rainforest more frequently in recent weeks in search of food, apparently moving away from the growing presence of loggers, said local Indigenous rights group FENAMAD. Members of the Mashco Piro Indigenous community, a reclusive tribe and one of the world's most withdrawn, gather on the banks of the Las Piedras river where they have been sighted coming out of the rainforest more frequently in search of food and moving away from the growing presence of loggers, in Monte Salvado, in t...
Read MoreThe 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
Read MoreWhale-watching excursions off Rio de Janeiro’s coast begin captivating tourists
Famous for its beaches and vibrant parties in the Southern Hemisphere’s summer, Rio de Janeiro now has an attraction for winter: humpback whales. The tourism agency of Niteroi, Rio’s sister city across the Guanabara Bay, on Thursday launched a whale-watching program that enables tourists to closely observe the mammoth mammals. A humpback whale breaches off the coast of Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) Between June and November, humpback whales migrate to Brazilian waters to breed. Around 25,000 humpback whales make a 2,500-mile (4,000-kilometer) journey from feeding areas in Antarctica to northeast Brazil. Most concentrate in the Abrolhos region, an area of coral reefs off the coast of Bahia and Espirito Santo states know...
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