ROBORÉ, Bolivia Tucabaca Valley Municipal Wildlife Reserve comprises around 2,644 square kilometers (1,021 square miles) of semi-arid forest and scrubland in the heart of southern Bolivia’s Chiquitania region. But the reserve, like the region around it, was beset by wildfires this year. In September, fires burned across some 130 square kilometers (50 square miles) or […]
Two years ago, fire ravaged the Tucavaca Valley Municipal Wildlife Reserve in the heart of Bolivia’s Chiquitania region, wiping out thousands of square kilometers of habitat. Now this threat has returned, with fires raging once again in the reserve and the surrounding area. Tucavaca Valley is located in the municipality of Roboré near Bolivia’s border […]
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There are some special places on Earth that scientists are pretty sure will yield new species when they manage to get there. The deepest parts of the ocean, for example, or remote islands that haven’t been trampled by tourists. But a high-altitude Bolivian cloud forest has staked its claim as a global biodiversity hotspot as biologists announced today that they discovered an amazing 20 species new to science, including a poisonous viper, a super tiny frog, and four species each of orchids and butterflies.
This Shangri-La of biodiversity is known as the Zongo Valley, located about 30 miles from the city of La Paz, Bolivia. It has been protected from human intrusion because of the steepness of the mountain slopes, which range from 2,000 to 17,000 feet in elevation. These slopes are home to a “cloud forest” that forms as rising moist air condenses and produces a constant high-altitude rainfall that supports a wi