A team of researchers has discovered a nursery of baby hammerhead sharks off an island in Ecuador's Galapagos archipelago, a finding that could help protect the species from the threat of extinction. The so-called haven for hammerhead hatchlings, who are less than a year old, was discovered near Isabela Island, the Galapagos' largest island, and offers refuge for the sharks during mating and early development stages. A view shows a part of the area from the Galapagos National Park, where a shark nursery was discovered off Isabela Island in the Galapagos, Ecuador, in this photo delivered by Galapagos National Park newsletter on December 16, 2022. REUTERS/Galapagos National Park/Handout via REUTERS "The discovery of these new breeding areas is very important, especially for the ham...
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travel articles and news about countries and destinations in South America or Latin America
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...
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 MoreThere’s no racetrack on the tiny Caribbean island of San Andres, but passion for horse racing runs deep. Thoroughbreds train on stunning white-sand beaches and compete on a rocky trail that cuts through the forest. A rider walks his horse on the beach of San Andres Island in Colombia, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia) The latest competition pitted 7-year-old mare Time Will Tell against Black Stallion in a kilometer-long race for a $16,000 prize. Three thousand people turned up for last weekend’s race, which was won by Time Will Tell, which had trained for days on the soft sand of the beach. Ullis Livingston, one of her caretakers, said he had slept at the mare’s stable for three days prior to the race because he feared somebody might harm the animal, and also b...
Read MoreIn recent years, a moment often came when a visitor to Argentina suddenly grasped they could have gotten a lot more bang for their bucks if only they had brought cash to buy pesos on the unofficial market. A dollar sometimes would buy twice as many pesos in informal cash trading as the amount in pesos it would get in purchases using a credit or debit card covered by the official exchange rate. “You can almost hear the blood drain out of their voice when they realize this,” said Jed Rothenberg, owner of a travel agency that specializes in trips to Argentina. That should, at least in theory, be a thing of the past as of Friday. The government has implemented a new regulation allowing visitors using credit and debit cards to get more pesos than the official rate gives. FILE PHOTO...
Read MoreEven in the most biodiverse rainforest of the world, the pirarucu, also known as arapaima, stands out. First, there is its mammoth size: It can weigh up to 200 kilos (440 pounds), by far the largest of 2,300 known fish species in the Amazon. It is found primarily in floodplain lakes across the Amazon basin, including the region of Medio Jurua. Second, the giant fish not so long ago nearly vanished from Jurua, as vessels swept the lakes with large nets. The illegal and unsustainable fishing left river and Indigenous communities struggling to catch their staple food. And it left pirarucu designated as threatened with extinction, unless trade in the fish is closely controlled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Fishermen join boats...
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 MoreAn Argentine artist has painted a giant mural of late soccer legend Diego Maradona in Buenos Aires to commemorate what would have been the World Cup winner's 62nd birthday on this 30th October. Muralist Martín Ron filled the 1,600-square-meter (17,000- square-ft) wall in the heart of the city with a depiction of Maradona, based on a photo of him urging his team on during the World Cup final against Germany in 1990, which Argentina went on to lose. General view of a mural depicting late soccer legend Diego Armando Maradona, which will be presented on the anniversary of Maradona, the 30th of October, in Buenos Aires, Argentina October 19, 2022. REUTERS/Tomas Cuesta "We already know that he was the best player in the world, but who was he as a person? He was a warrior, he went up ag...
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 MoreJust months after enduring floods that destroyed crops and submerged entire communities, thousands of families in the Brazilian Amazon are now dealing with severe drought that, at least in some areas, is the worst in decades. The low level of the Amazon River, at the center of the largest drainage system in the world, has put dozens of municipalities under alert. The fast-decreasing river water level is due to lower-than-expected rainfall during August and September, according to Luna Gripp, a geosciences researcher who monitors the western Amazon’s river levels for the Brazilian Geological Survey. A man walks in an area impacted by drought near the Solimões River, in Tefe, Amazonas state, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros) As most of Amazonas state is not ...
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