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Amazonas Wildlife

The Amazon basin extends over 6.8 million kilometres through nine countries and the Brazilian Amazon alone makes up to 40 percent of the world's remaining tropical forest. There have been humans living in the forest for the last 11,000 years, hunting and gathering, and practising agriculture (since the domestication of manioc in 7,000 BC). Over the majority of this time, the human population has lived in the forest without destroying its ecosystems or wildlife.

A Mamiraua forest scene

However, since the arrival of Europeans in South America 500 years ago, people have been settling in the Amazon in ever-increasing numbers. In 1960 there were four million people in the Amazon basin, and this has increased exponentially to over 20 million people in 2001. The vast majority of this population make a living from the resources of the Amazon river.

One kilometre of Amazon rainforest can contain thousands of tonnes of living plants and preserving this density of plants is an important weapon in the global efforts to stop climate change. Indeed, the forest has been dubbed the 'lungs of the planet', regulating the balance of atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen. The question is, can the forest be protected when so many people need to make a living from its resources?

Mamiraua Reserve

Mamiraua Reserve, the first Brazilian reserve for sustainable development, can be cited as a positive answer to this question. As a case study, the reserve shows that it is possible for economic activities to go hand-in-hand with conservation. Situated at the confluence of the rivers Japura and Solimoes, the reserve was created in 1999 and protects an ecosystem of 11,000 square kilometres of flooded forest, with over 800 lakes. It also connects to two other tropical forest reserves, giving a total protected area of 55,000 square kilometres - larger than Costa Rica. There are 10,000 people living in and around the reserve, and many communities work with the Mamiraua Institute to manage and research the species of the area. The idea is that local people will manage their resources in order to both conserve wildlife and to make money, and that these two things are not mutually exclusive.

A Mamiraua Sunset

To experience the conservation of the Amazon in action, Bruce and the crew filmed scientific fieldwork in the reserve and lived with two of its communities: Jaraua, which works with the Institute, and San Fransisco de Boia, a village that is not fully incorporated into the Institute's programmes.

Protected Species

Mamiraua Reserve is home to a number of flagship conservation species. Rare freshwater dolphins in shades of startling pink share the waters with the giant pirarucu, the largest fish in the Amazon. Uakari monkeys swing from the branches of the flooded swamp forest, along with several species of sloth, which can be the unfortunate prey of harpy eagles as they swoop silently through the canopy. At night, lurking on the surfaces of lakes, are rafts of black caiman, their eyes visible in the beam of a ship's light. The Mamiraua Institute has set up a number of conservation programmes to preserve these species, including projects to protect the pirarucu and caiman (see below).

Piraruca

Arapaima gigas

The name of this giant freshwater fish roughly translates as 'red fish', which refers to the red hind of its huge body. Found throughout the Amazon region, Pirarucu adults are on average 1.8 metres long and weigh around 90Kgs (significantly more than Bruce!) but they can get to 180Kgs or more. In the spring they build nests in the river (basically shallow holes in the riverbed) and spawn. In the presence of predators, a male adult protects the offspring by drawing them into his cavernous mouth. Periodically the pirarucu comes to the air to supplement the oxygen it receives through the water. Unusually, the fish can survive for an incredible 24 hours out of the water but will die within the hour if it can't come up for air.

Bruce catches a pirarucu

Gulping air from the surface has adapted so that the pirarucu can hunt under algae-covered lakes. In these waters, where oxygen is low, live smaller fish like catfish have lowered their metabolism to survive, and thus slowed their usually agile movement. Conversely, the pirarucu's mouthfuls of air keep its oxygen levels high so that it has the speed and strength to catch its normally swifter prey.

Surfacing, however, means the pirarucu is easier for humans to catch. In the 1970s it was noted that the number of pirarucu catches in Mamiraua was falling, suggesting the species was dwindling, and in 1996 it was placed on the CTES endangered list.

Gone fishing

Currently, the fishing of pirarucu in the reserve is managed by the Institute along with the local population. Fishing occurs from canoes only in the low-water season. Fishermen spot where a pirarucu surfaces and, if lucky, they eventually spear it. A controlled fishing season has appeared to be a more effective conservation method than banning pirarucu fishing outright. During previous bans, pirarucu numbers have not increased and the meat has continued to be sold on the black market but the recent approach seems to work: in 1999 there were 360 adult pirarucu counted in Jarara; increasing to 1,000 in the year 2000; and again to 1,440 in 2001.

Black Caiman

Melanosuchus niger

The black caiman is found throughout much of the Amazon basin, but 80 percent of its range is in Brazil. The largest recorded size is 5.8 metres for a male but most caiman average between 3 to 5 metres. In the first year of their life caiman eat small vertebrates and insects, later feeding on catfish and piranha. The animal matures into a fearsome predator, feasting mainly on fish but also on mammals like capybara (the largest rodent on earth) and even other caiman. Some communities complain the caiman is a threat: it destroys fishing nets and is a danger to young children at the waters' edge.

Bruce goes to collect caiman with scientists from the reserve

One inch of caiman skin can be worth up to 25 dollars if properly skinned and caiman meat is also used as bait to catch a species of catfish (the mota fish Calophysus macropterus). The mota fish is exported to Colombia where it is considered a delicacy. Hunting the animal depleted the Amazonian population from 1950 onwards and in 1982 the black caiman was categorised as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Since then it has been illegal to hunt caimans for commercial use and there has been a significant increase in numbers. Despite illegal poaching, the species was declassified in 2003.

A Black Caiman

Caiman is still sold on the black market and also illegally hunted so that its fatty meat attracts the mota fish. It has been suggested that using conservation methods similar to those used for pirarucu may be a more effective way of managing populations. Targeted harvesting of juvenile males in the Mamiraua Reserve could mean that communities can make a legal profit from caiman fishing, and would benefit economic development along with protecting the species.

The people of Mamiraua

The people living in the Mamiraua reserve are largely known as riberinhos - rural people that live alongside rivers, mainly making a living through fishing and family agriculture. Often the riberinhos use indigenous methods of forest management; they know the use of hundreds of plants and also maintain a close spiritual connection with the forest.

A rainbow appears over Jacaua

The population has descended from indigenous people and the Brazilian people who migrated to the Amazon from the northeast, in order to tap latex from Hevea brasiliensis trees. The rubber boom ran from 1850 to 1910 and was a cruel industry for workers. Reports from the time describe systematic torture and slavery of both local and imported people. The European-ran industry collapsed in Brazil because it couldn't compete with new plantations in what was then Malaya (plantations in Malaya were begun with seeds smuggled from the Amazon).

Jacare children

During the Second World War there was a brief resurgence in the rubber industry. The USA paid the Brazilian government 100 dollars for every worker delivered to the Amazon from various regions of Brazil. Known as 'rubber soldiers', these people were kept under strict military watch and worked in obligatory servitude. The Brazilian government of the time promised to return each of the rubber soldiers home at the end of the war, but around 30,000 individuals are estimated to have died in the Amazon region and only 6,000 got home - at their own expense.

Boto: The Amazon River Dolphin

Inia geoffrensis

The Amazon River Dolphin, or boto, to give it its local name, is one of the few freshwater dolphins of the world. Born with dark gray pigmentation, the dolphins become more translucent with age so that blood circulating beneath their skin gives them a vivid pink appearance, especially on the ventral side. The dolphins are also known to flush with pink when excited. As the sun's rays cause the dolphins to lose their bright pink pigmentation, the pinkest creatures are often found in the murkiest waters.

The boto is considered sacred in many Amazonian cultures. The encantado is a boto shapeshifter who becomes a handsome man at night and seduces and impregnates girls. It is often considered bad luck to kill a boto and if eye contact is made with a boto, it is thought that you will have nightmares for the rest of your life.

The pink dolphins' exact population size is unknown. In the Mamiraua area alone it is estimated there are at least 140; about 700 are thought to inhabit Peru's Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, and there is also a substantial population outside of the reserves. It is illegal to deliberately kill boto in Mamiraua but boto, in addition to being subject to the general threats of fishing, damns and pollution, are also thought to be deliberately killed. Scientific projects in the area are monitoring populations.

Feeding time for the dolphins

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