Over the last decade or so, the environmental news coming out of Brazil has been full of heartbreaking reports about deforestation, water pollution, and a broad range of threats endangering countless Amazon animals. So the conservation community was surprised and elated by recent news of a 2-year scientific study, which found that the Brazilian Amazon is so full of life that new species of flora or fauna were being discovered every other day on average.
Conducted in partnership between World Wildlife Fund and a Brazil-based conservation non-profit, the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development, the study tracked new vertebrate and plant species discovered in the Amazon River basin in 2014 and 2015.
Untold Treasures of the Amazon
Using only peer-reviewed journals as their source, researchers found credible reports of 381 new species. These included 216 plants, 93 fish, 32 amphibians, 20 mammals, 19 reptiles, and one bird. Notable new species include a pink river dolphin (Inia araguaiaensis), the adorable Fire-tailed Titi Monkey, the freshwater Honeycomb Stingray, and the Western Striolated Puffbird (whose scientific name, Nystalus obamai, is a tribute to Barack Obama).
As these incredible discoveries were announced, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature quickly labeled several of the newly identified plants and animals as threatened or endangered. The WWF report notes that the rapid advance of habitat destruction in the southern and eastern portions of the river basin could put many of these Amazon animals at risk.
“This [report] shows we have a very rich Amazon,” said Pedro Nassar, a biologist at the Mamirauá Institute, in an interview with National Geographic. “We have to preserve [these species].”
Unfortunately the Brazilian government removed protection for a huge portion of the Amazon in August of 2017 in order to allow access for the mining of gold and other minerals. But the Mamirauá team continues to study the Amazon river basin in search of new species, particularly the relatively unexplored northern and western regions.
