Amazon rainforest

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Rare Species Last Seen in 1936 Spotted in Amazon

Scientist says she burst into tears during sighting

(Newser) - A primate last seen alive 80 years ago has been spotted during a wildly successful expedition in one of the most remote parts of the Amazon, National Geographic reports. The Vanzolini bald-faced saki, a distinctive "flying monkey" that sports shaggy hair with golden highlights around its arms and legs,...

Brazil Farmers Attack, Mutilate Tribespeople

Survivors say ranchers attacked with guns, machetes

(Newser) - At least 13 Gamela tribespeople in northeast Brazil were injured Sunday as a decades-old land dispute abruptly turned horrifyingly brutal. Survivors of the attack in Maranhao state say dozens of ranchers armed with guns and machetes descended on a new settlement set up on land the Gamela people have been...

Monkeys Help Man Survive 9 Days Lost in Amazon

The tourist doesn't know how he got lost; locals blame a mischievous sprite

(Newser) - Maykool Acuña spent nine days lost in the rainforest—possibly due the machinations of an evil tree sprite—but was kept alive by a group of helpful monkeys. National Geographic , whose reporter was embedded with the team searching for Acuña, has the highly improbable story. Acuña was...

Drones Find Hundreds of Stonehenge-Like Spots in Amazon

More than 450 'geoglyphs' date from around the year 0

(Newser) - Scientists flying drones over the Amazon rainforest in Brazil have found more than 450 "geoglyphs" that are similar in size, structure, and possibly purpose to Stonehenge in England. The earthworks were likely used for public gatherings and rituals, researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...

New Photos Show Endangered Amazon Tribe

Miners are getting too close to Yanomami, say activists

(Newser) - New photos have emerged of a tribe deep in the Amazon that shuns contact with the modern world, and the photos bring a mix of good and bad news. On the hopeful side, the aerial images show that the small Yanomami community near the border of Brazil and Venezuela seems...

More Than Half of Amazon Tree Species Are Threatened

Study marks percentage of endangered trees for first time

(Newser) - More than half of the Amazon's 15,000 tree species may be facing extinction if governments can't curb deforestation, a new study says. Researchers reached this conclusion by comparing ground-level data on trees—about their leaves, branches, diameters, and so on—to projected deforestation across the vast South...

'Amazon Yellowstone' Is Now Protected

Peru creates huge new national park

(Newser) - The creation of a vast new national park in Peru is excellent news for jaguars, tapirs, sloths, and probably quite a few species completely new to science. The Sierra del Divisor National Park, which holds a Connecticut-sized chunk of largely unexplored rainforest, is home to thousands of species and has...

Peru to Make First Contact With Remote Amazon Tribe

Mashco Piro has been emerging on its own, a potentially risky move

(Newser) - A tribe that lives deep in the Amazon rainforest is about to get a visit from the government: Peru says it will take the controversial step of making contact with the Mashco Piro, reports Live Science . The government has a hands-off policy when it comes to such tribes because their...

1% of Amazon's Tree Species Suck Half the Carbon

Big, long-lived trees dominate carbon sink

(Newser) - There are an estimated 16,000 different tree species in the Amazon rainforest—far more than in Europe and the US combined—but it's just a small fraction of them that do most of the carbon-capturing that's vital to the planet's health, according to new research. Just...

Brazil: 'Biggest Amazon Deforester' Arrested

Suspect blamed for 20% of forest loss

(Newser) - Brazil has detained a land-grabber thought to be the Amazon's single biggest deforester, the country's environmental protection agency says. The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources says Ezequiel Antonio Castanha, who was detained Saturday in the state of Para, operated a network that illegally seized federal...

How a Drone Could Settle Debate Over the Ancient Amazon

Researchers will scan ground in search of geoglyphs

(Newser) - Experts are divided over how ancient people lived in what is now Brazil, and they're turning to a drone to help them learn the answers. "While some researchers think that Amazonia was inhabited by small bands of hunter-gatherers and shifting cultivators who had a minimal impact on the...

Peru Evacuates Village After &#39;Uncontacted&#39; Tribe Attacks
'Uncontacted' Amazon Tribe Attacks Peru Village
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 28, 2014 7:00 PM CST

'Uncontacted' Amazon Tribe Attacks Peru Village

Some 200 men from Mashco-Piro tribe stole food, killed animals

(Newser) - Peru is evacuating a remote village near the Brazilian border after an unusual display of aggression from one of the 15 or so "uncontacted" tribes that live in its Amazon forests. Earlier this month, 200 men from the tribe, called Mashco-Piro , raided the village of Monte Salvado armed with...

Man Says He'll Be Eaten Alive by Anaconda

Paul Rosolie claims he'll journey into the belly of the beast for Discovery Channel

(Newser) - Naturalist Paul Rosolie believes "you have to go head first." What he's referring to is shoving his head into the mouth of an anaconda, letting it swallow him, and filming the experience for a Discovery Channel special called Eaten Alive, News.com.au reports. According to the...

Amazon Jungle's Nutrient Source: Dead African Fish

Researchers: Powdered bones, scales are feeding Amazon—for now

(Newser) - Researchers have made one of the strangest-sounding discoveries in a while: Long-dead African fish are helping feed the Amazon. How, you ask? Well, millions of tons of dust blow west from the Sahara Desert across the Atlantic Ocean each year. The dust, which acts as a natural fertilizer where it...

Skyscraper Rising in Middle of the Amazon

Observatory is far from human settlement

(Newser) - At 1,066 feet, a tower rising in Brazil will be taller than New York City's Chrysler Building—or any skyscraper in South America—but it won't have any neighbors in sight. The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory, around 100 miles from the city of Manuas, is designed to...

Isolated Tribe Makes First Contact, Promptly Catches Flu

The 5 men, 2 women all contracted influenza in matter of days

(Newser) - When an isolated tribe emerged from the Amazon in recent weeks and initiated contact with Brazilian scientists in the village of Ashaninka near the Peruvian border, some called the move "potentially tragic" —and, indeed, though they were quickly quarantined for their own safety, all five men and two...

Man Finds Lost Mom Living in Amazon Tribe
Man Finds Lost Mom
Living in Amazon Tribe
in case you missed it
May 31, 2014 6:59 AM CDT

Man Finds Lost Mom Living in Amazon Tribe

David Good seeks new life with mother in Venezuela

(Newser) - Imagine reconnecting with your long-lost mother—in a tribe that has no written language, electricity, or medicine. Or word for "love." That's what David Good experienced when he found his mother, Yarima, in the Yanomami tribe in Venezuela, the New York Post reports. He had long claimed...

First in a Century: New River Dolphin Species

Rapids separated it from Amazon river system

(Newser) - River dolphins worldwide are rare and endangered, but a new species has been added to their number for the first time in almost a century. Scientists in Brazil, writing in the journal PLOS One , say the Araguaia dolphin, named after the river where it was found, is a distinct species...

Ugly Number: Amazon Deforestation Up 28%

Rise follows 4 years of decline

(Newser) - A year after reporting the lowest rates of Amazon deforestation since monitoring began, Brazil has noted a big change this time around: a 28% surge in deforestation from August 2012 to this July. During that period, 2,255 square miles were destroyed, compared with 1,765 square miles during the...

Big Threat to Amazon: Unseen Forest Fires

They cause more damage than deforestation with their slow burns

(Newser) - Someone flying above the Amazon in a plane would see nothing amiss, but scores of small, slow-moving fires beneath the canopy of trees are destroying more land than deforestation, reports LiveScience . New satellite imaging from NASA has revealed these so-called "understory fires." Flames are only a few feet...

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