The Amazon as one imagines it as a child.

In just four weeks at a single colpa (or clay lick where mammals and birds gather) on the lower Las Piedras River, in Peru, Paul Rosolie and his team captured footage of 30 Amazonian species. The footage includes appearances by seven species that are imperiled. The short film was assembled from 2,000 clips.

Rosolie says the number of species captured at this colpa surprised even him. “Most people think of the rainforest and they picture animals everywhere, but in reality, even in healthy forest, you could walk all day and see nothing. Seeing such incredible abundance and diversity at a single location in the forest, in so short a time, is something we have never seen before.”

Endangered

The very spot Rosolie and his team filmed is under threat. The headwaters of the Las Piedras River are protected, but the lower Las Piedras River is being infiltrated by loggers, miners, and farmers following the construction of the Trans-Amazon highway.

If protected,

the lower Las Piedras River connected together with Manu National Park and Alto Purus National Park to Bahuaja-Sonene National Park and Madidi National Park in Bolivia, would constitute the single greatest contiguous area of biodiversity on Mother Earth.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Las Piedras River or supporting conservation efforts there can contact Paul Rosolie: Adventure@tamanduajungle.com

Read interview with Rosolie.

Source: mongabay.com