Gigantic Amazon stick insect (photo)
A gigantic stick insect in the Peruvian Amazon More photos of stick insects.
The allure of the Amazon: real or imagined?
Commentary by Nick Werber What is it about the Amazon that fires the imagination? For as long as I can recall it has been a symbol for the Earth as it wants to be; a flourishing paradise perhaps, a place of explosive variegation, the jungle in full bloom. Like the untamed areas outside of the cities in Brave New World, The Heart of Darkness and The Lost World, the jungle has formed an archetype for all that is natural and untouched by...
A jungle day-trip: studying brazil nuts in the Peruvian Amazon
By Eleanor Warren-Thomas The day begins at around 5 a.m., when the sounds of motorbikes revving, dogs barking, wood being chopped and shouting men start to permeate the room. I haven’t needed to set my alarm for weeks. I am here to help run a project on Brazil nut harvesting from lowland rainforests in Madre de Dios, in the Peruvian Amazon. Brazil nut collection from these forests forms a huge part of many people’s livelihood in this...
Final House vote on Brazil’s Forest Code likely delayed
Last week Brazil’s Senate voted in favor of the new Forest Code, which regulates how much forest a property owner is required to maintain. But before the new Forest Code becomes law, it must pass the lower house and then win approval by President Dilma Rousseff. With Congress going on recess this week, it now appears the vote will be delayed until after lawmakers return in February. Environmentalists are gearing up for a fight...
Last chance for the Xingu River and its people? (video)
Brazil recently announced it was going ahead with building the hugely controversial Belo Monte dam, although the construction is set to flood rainforest, change the character of the Xingu River, and displace at least 16,000 people, although transforming the lives of many tens-of-thousands more. Indigenous people along the Xingu have been fighting the dam for decades. Mongabay.com has been following the Belo Monte dam closely:...
Brazil’s largest miner to fund destructive Amazon dam
Vale, a Brazilian mining company that frequently touts its environmental stewardship, will invest $1.4 billion in the controversial Belo Monte dam. The project will flood nearly 200 square miles (500 square kilometers) of rainforest and impact up to 50,000 indigenous people.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron visit indigenous community threatened by mega-dam (video)
Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron visit an Arara village on the Big Bend of the Xingu River, which is imperiled by Brazil’s mega-dam Belo Monte. For more information on the Belo Monte: Bill Clinton takes on Brazil’s megadams, James Cameron backs tribal groups (03/28/2011) Former US President, Bill Clinton, spoke out against Brazil’s megadams at the 2nd World Sustainability Forum, which was also attended by...
Green dams in the Amazon? (video)
Video looks at how to save the Amazon in midst of rising pressure to build massive hydroelectric power in the region. WWF (with aid from Nature Conservancy) looks at what rivers must be preserved from hydroelectric power in order to keep the Amazon ecosystem thriving using ecosystem-wide modeling. For more information on dam projects in the Amazon: Bill Clinton takes on Brazil’s megadams, James Cameron backs tribal groups...
The importance of good tree-climbing skills (video)
Imagine for a moment that you live in a tropical rain forest and that calorie-rich palm tree fruits are an important part of your diet. Cutting a palm down for its fruit would be pretty shortsighted, right? Still, you might do just that–if the fruit dangled 20 meters above the rain forest floor, you lacked climbing skills, and you were hungry. But, if you had climbing skills–and gear when you needed it–and if...
Photo: the shadow cast by a tree frog
A tree frog photographed in Amacayacu National Park, Colombia, 2010. We have been unable to identify this species, if you know please contact us. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Volunteer opportunity in the Peruvian Amazon
Chanti waterfall. Photo courtesy of: The Amazon Waterfalls Association. Have you ever dreamed of visiting the Amazon? How about touring little-seen jungle waterfalls—one of which is three times taller than the Eiffel Tower and 17 times taller than Niagara Falls? The Amazon Waterfalls Association is looking for a few good volunteers to help develop walking paths passing by a series of astounding waterfalls in Peru. “The trek...
Find the poison frog!
Look closely to spot the Green and black poison dark frog (Dendrobates auratus in the rainforest canopy in Colombia. See more photos below of the frog in Colombia. Unlike many Neotropical frogs, this species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Click to see more photos of poison dart...
The view from the air
Angel Falls in Venezuela. Photo by Rhett A. Butler River in the lowlands of Gabon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Rice fields in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Mountains in Western China. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Flowering trees in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. African buffalo in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Photo by Jeremy...
Activism: CREDO joins the fight against the Belo Monte dam
Note: mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue in comments. Credo, the progressive for-profit cell phone company, has thrown its hat in the ring in the environmental activists’ battle against the Belo Monte dam, joining International Rivers, Amazon Watch, and James Cameron. Credo now urges its activists to sign a petition, which states in...
Will forest conservation deal increase palm oil prices?
Bloomberg is reporting palm oil companies will be big winners should any forest conservation deal arise out of next week’s climate talks in Cancun, Mexico. The article quotes members of the palm oil industry, who argue that “any UN-led accord that restricts clearing rainforest for planting more palm trees would limit the supply of the edible oil crushed from their fruit and be a boon to prices for growers.” “It’s a...
Odd claim in Fast Company commentary on Brazil’s Amazon logging plan
A Fast Company commentary on Brazil’s plan to begin granting logging concessions in the Amazon concludes with some puzzling remarks. Author Ariel Schwartz writes: Legitimate corporations like Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) are often accused of unsustainable logging practices in the Amazon. But it’s better than the alternative. First, Asia Pulp & Paper does not operate in the Amazon—its...
Photo: the World’s largest lily pad
Amazon water lilies in Colombia. More photos of Queen Victoria water lilies in Colombia The Queen Victoria water lily (Victoria amazonica), named in honor of Britain’s Queen Victoria, is native to the Amazon River basin. It is characterized by a large leaf that is up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter, on a stalk 7–8 m (23-26 ft) in length. The leaf of Queen Victoria water lily can support up to 70 pounds distributed across its surface,...
Research Internships in the Amazon
A limited number of opportunities are available for interns to work for stints of 6-12 months at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) in central Amazonia (www.pdbff.inpa.gov.br). The BDFFP, a renowned research project, is the world’s largest and longest-running experimental study of habitat fragmentation.
