News
Logo Contest for Atropellamiento de fauna, Perú
The citizen science initiative on Atropellamiento de Fauna is looking for a logo. If you have the skills to design a logo that represents the theme of the project, you can participate in the contest that we are organizing and win the prize that we are offering.
Prize:
- A bottle of Matalaché pisco cream (special edition of the Desert Cat) of 500 ml.
- A mug from the Desert Cat Project.
- A 500 g package of Olaechea chifles.
- Diploma
- Public recognition on our social networks.
Please, download the bases to take into account all considerations. The deadline to apply is July 31st at 11:59 pm.
Download this PDF to see how to apply
bases_del_concurso__atropellamiento_fauna_perú_.pdf
Call for volunteering 2020
Would you like to support BioS research and conservation projects?
We are looking for volunteers for three of our projects and to help us with the dissemination on social networks. If you are interested, please fill out the form after reading the details of how your collaboration would be. The modality is virtual and a minimum commitment of 20 hours per week is required.
1. Carnivore persistence project:
Volunteers will be in charge of managing camera trap photos. The minimum requirements include interest in studying medium and large mammals, having a Dropbox account with available space of at least 2GB, and ideally being familiar with dry forest species.
2. EcoBat project:
Volunteers will receive training in software management (Avisoft SAS Lab) and analysis for the description of bat echolocation calls in multiple locations in Peruvian territory. The volunteer is required to develop databases from the compilation of acoustic parameters measurement, knowledge in statistical analysis and data management in Google Drive, Dropbox and WeTransfer
3. Distribution of Andean rodents:
The volunteer will carry out database organization work. Among the skills must have basic knowledge of geographic information system, Google Earth, good use of Excel and above all a lot of interest in rodents.
4. Social networks:
Design posters and / or edit short videos to publish it on our Facebook and Instagram page. You need graphic design skills with the software of your choice. We will provide the photos, videos and ideas of the audiovisual material.
Benefits:
- Certificate of volunteering or pre-professional practices.
- Learn new software about bioacoustics and how to analyze the data.
- Learn about Andean rodents and medium and large dry forest mammals.
- Have experience of cabinet work after field work.
- Possibility of going to collect field data once our investigations are renewed.
Application deadline: June 24th. The selection of the volunteers will include the review of the virtual form and personal interview (June 26th and 27th), Final results: June28th.
Please, fill out the next form.
Call for volunteers and thesis students 2019
We are looking for volunteers or thesis students to work on a project on the influence of exotic species on the community of native mammals in the dry forest of northwestern Peru. The work will consist of conducting interviews with rural residents, developing environmental education activities, installing camera traps and fingerprint traps. Equipment, food and lodging costs in the field are covered.
Eligibility:
- Graduated from biology, forestry, veterinary engineering or related careers.
- Strong interest in the study of mammals.
- Empathy to work with rural people.
- Enjoy field work in basic camping conditions and long walks.
- Previous experience in the use of camera traps, field work in dry forests or in environmental education activities (not essential).
Download this PDF to see how to apply
convocatoria_de_tesista_o_voluntario.pdf
Thesis students call 2018
We are looking for thesis students to work on a project with camera traps in two Protected Natural Areas in northern Peru: the Pomac Forest Historic Sanctuary and the El Angolo Hunting Reserve. These undergraduate thesis will be part of a doctoral thesis from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Equipment, food and lodging costs in the field are covered.
Eligibility:
- Graduated from biology, forestry, veterinary engineering or related careers.
- Strong interest in the study of mammals.
- Enjoy field work in basic camping conditions and long walks.
- Previous experience in the use of camera traps or field work in dry forests (not essential).
Download this PDF to see how to apply
convocatoria_tesista_pomac_y_angolo.pdf
IV Peruvian Congress of Mastozoology
BioS actively participated in the organization of the IV Peruvian Congress of Mammalogy, which took place from November 11 to 15, 2018 in Cusco. It had the participation of 4 lecturers, 62 oral presentations and 32 poster presentations. More than 130 national and international people participated.
Additionally, BioS presented 11 talks from all of our members. More information here: Association of Mastozoologists of Peru.
26 de noviembre del 2018
Previous News
Cat Expo Fair
On October 13, 2018, our Peruvian Desert Cat project participated in the 2018 Cat Expo, organized by the Club Felino Peruano. This fair brought together thousands of people who love domestic cats and we had the opportunity to expose our project and draw attention to the responsible care of domestic cats and how they can affect wildlife.
18 de octubre del 2018
Call for thesis student
We are looking for a thesis student to work on a project on activity patterns of larger mammals with camera traps in Cerros de Amotape National Park, Tumbes. Equipment, food and lodging costs in the field are covered.
Eligibility:
- Graduated from biology, forestry, veterinary engineering or related careers.
- Strong interest in the study of mammals.
- Enjoy field work in basic camping conditions and long walks.
- Previous experience in the use of camera traps or field work in dry forests (not essential).
Download this PDF to see how to apply
convocatoria_tesista_BioS.docx
11 de octubre del 2017
Member of BioS is awarded the Conservation Prize
“Carlos Ponce del Prado”
Cindy Hurtado, vice-president of BioS was just given the “Carlos Ponce Award” in the category of young outstanding professional. She obtained this award because of her work towards research and conservation of mammals. She stood out among the other nominees for her tangible efforts to raise awareness about the importance of the Pacific Forest through her project “Meet the Pacific tropical rainforest”. Also, she has publications describing the mammal community of this forest with emphasis on threatened species.
Her efforts are now focused on the dry forest of Peru, where she recorded for the first time three species of major mammals in the Cerros de Amotape National Park in Tumbes. Currently, she will develop her doctoral thesis (at the University of British Columbia) evaluating the connectivity of the Protected Natural Areas of the dry forest of Peru and Ecuador. Congratulations Cindy!
Discovery of a new species dedicated to
Mario Vargas Llosa
South American rodents of the genus Neacomys differ from others because they have long tails and specialized hairs, like spines, to protect themselves from predators. Among them, the large spiny mouse (Neacomys spinosus) was indicated as widely distributed between the Amazon and the Andes of Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru, crossing geographical barriers that have previously been indicated as the distribution limit of the Amazon fauna and Andean (ie. Rio Marañón, Rio Amazonas, etc). For that reason, Natali Hurtado, currently a member of BioS, and Dr. Víctor Pacheco, Head of the Mammalogy Department of the San Marcos Natural History Museum, in mid-2011, proposed to evaluate the identity of the Neacomys spinosus populations distributed among the Andes and the Peruvian Amazon under the project entitled “Revision of Neacomys spinosus with emphasis on Peruvian populations.”
Initially, all the reviews were focused on the collection of mammals at the San Marcos Natural History Museum, until one afternoon in February 2012, when Natali Hurtado and Dr. Víctor Pacheco came to the conclusion that the morphological differentiation they observed between populations north and south of the Andes corresponded to the “discovery” of a new species for science. Faced with the evidence, both researchers designed a short proposal to review samples in the United States collections, obtaining partial funding sponsored by the Field Museum of Natural History and the endorsement of Dr. Bruce D. Patterson for Natali to visit them (in the middle of 2012). After collecting the morphological evidence that supports their work, both researchers had to paralyze activities until they got support to complete the molecular analyzes, which were achieved in mid-2014 in the laboratory of Dr. Guillermo D’Elía in Chile.
As a final result, the researchers concluded that Neacomys spinosus is a group of species, of which Mario’s spiny mouse (Neacomys vargasllosai) is a new species for science and is distributed in the cloud forests or yungas from southern Peru. up to the north of Bolivia, the large spiny mouse (Neacomys spinosus) is a Peruvian endemic species with a distribution restricted to the cloud forests between San Martín and Huánuco and the sympathetic spiny mouse (Neacomys amoenus) would be a species that is distributed in the Amazon between Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru and that it could also be a group of species (so it requires more studies).
The researchers state that they decided to pay tribute to the writer Mario Vargas Llosa, by dedicating the species to him: Neacomys vargasllosai, the best representative of Peruvian and Latin American literature. Furthermore, because the writer was born in Arequipa (as was one of the researchers), he lived in Bolivia (the country where the new species is distributed) and studied at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (as did the two researchers). On the other hand, they state that the diversity of Peruvian mammals could be much greater, but that current and future researchers are required to carry out comprehensive studies (between classical morphology tools and molecular tools).
Other contributions of the study:
- Taxonomic arrangements increase the list of Peruvian mammals to 551 species.
- Molecular analyzes reveal that the diversity of the genus Neacomys is still underestimated, at least 4 candidate species are listed, pending review and description.
- The distribution of the species showed that the limit of these corresponds to some rivers of the eastern slope of the Andes, so it is hypothesized that the rivers have had some effect on the formation of the species. Hypothesis that could also be tested in other species of the Andean biota.
Source: Hurtado, N. and Pacheco, V. 2017. Revision of Neacomys spinosus (Thomas, 1882) (Rodentia: Cricetidae) with emphasis on Peruvian populations and the description of a new species. Zootaxa Vol 4242, No 3.
Still in the forest: the history and rediscovery of Pithecia vanzolinii (Vanzolini's huapo monkey) in the Brazilian Amazon
After 60 years, Pithecia vanzolinii (Vanzolini huapo monkey) has been recorded in its natural habitat, undoubtedly being one of the greatest finds of the last decades for Brazilian and Neotropical primatology. This registry was carried out by researchers André Valle Nunes, from the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul and José Serrano-Villavicencio, from the University of São Paulo and member of the NGO BioS. The registration took place in November 2016, in the State of Acre-Brazil, where the first researcher develops a study of the processes related to the interaction between traditional human populations, domestic dogs and game animals. The specimen corresponds to an adult male individual hunted by the inhabitants of a community of the Cruzeiro do Sul municipality, which was sent to the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo (MZUSP), where its identification was confirmed when compared with the type material deposited in this Museum.
The history of this primate begins with Alfonso M. Olalla, a renowned Ecuadorian collector of animals during the first decades of the 20th century. This collector was constantly hired by different museums and naturalists in order to explore remote and inhospitable places for science. During one of these trips in 1936, paid for by the Swiss Count Nils Gyldenstolpe, A. M. Olalla collected a large number of mammals in the states of Acre and Amazonas in Brazil. Among these mammals were several individuals of primates of the genus Pithecia (known to us as Black Huapos) which were sold to different museums, including the MZUSP. In 1956, the Brazilian ornithologist Fernando da Costa Novaes and the taxidermist M. M. Moreira, collected two individuals in the area of Cruzeiro do Sul (Acre, Brazil) that were later sent to the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi.
These specimens of Pithecia collected in the Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas went unnoticed for 50 years until Dr. Mario de Vivo (current curator of the MZUSP mammal section) in 1985 highlighted the uniqueness of these specimens; Taking these considerations into account and based on the material collected by A.M. Olalla, F. Novaes and M. Moreira, the prominent mammalogist Philip Hershkovitz described this species as Pithecia irrorata vanzolinii in 1987, giving it this name in honor of the outstanding Brazilian zoologist Paulo Emilio Vanzolini.0 In 2014, this subspecies was elevated to species level by Dr. Laura Marsh in her revision of the genus Pithecia. That researcher highlighted that there were no current records or collections of this species, so the record made in the expedition of F. Novaes and M. Moreira in 1956 would represent the last record of the 20th century of this species that went unnoticed for the last 60 years.
In addition to these few records and the low representation in scientific collections, the natural history of this species is totally unknown, as is also the case with various species of mammals that live in remote areas of the Amazon. For these reasons Pithecia vanzolinii is in the Data Deficient category of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This individual collected represents the first record of Pithecia vanzolinii after 60 years and opens the way for future studies of its natural history and its actual state of conservation. Likewise, this record highlights the importance of returning to areas where there are only historical records of fauna and which have not been visited again.
This discovery has already been approved and will be published in the next few days in the scientific journal “Check List the Journal of Biodiversity Data”: Rediscovery of Vanzolini’s Bald-Faced Saki, Pithecia vanzolinii Hershkovitz, 1987 (Primates, Pitheciidae): first record after 1956.
Cindy M. Hurtado is the first author of the most recent publication from BioS: An updated analysis of the distribution of CITES-listed Peruvian carnivores for conservation priorities, published in Mastozoologia Neotropical journal.
This article presents historic and contemporary records of 22 species of carnivores. Also, it identifies several localities for priority research.
Download this PDF to see how to apply
Peruvian carnivores CITES_Hurtado et al. 2016.pdf
Carta de Reflexión sobre los incendios forestales
en el Norte de Perú
Lamentablemente, desde desde hace más de una semana el Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque, Cajamarca y Ancash vienen atravesando una de las peores emergencias ambientales de las últimas décadas: la quema de cientos de hectáreas de bosques y pajonales nativos. Incendios que se han originado por períodos inusualmente prolongados de sequía en combinación con malas prácticas agrícolas. En consecuencia, muchas especies (la mayoría de ellas únicas de estos bosques) han perdido su hábitat; tales como especies ampliamente conocidas y amenazadas como la pava aliblanca y el oso de anteojos, sumados a cientos o miles de especies de invertebrados y microorganismos que se encargan del mantenimiento de los bosques.
A pesar de los esfuerzos de los pobladores que habitan en las zonas afectadas, los incendios aún no ha sido controlados. Infelizmente el gobierno peruano ha ignorado esta emergencia ambiental y no ha brindado su apoyo necesario para tratar de mitigar los daños ocasionados por este incendio forestal, inclusive con miles de hectáreas y pobladores afectados.
Es momento de exigir a las autoridades acciones de concientización y planes de desarrollo donde se incluya a las áreas naturales. No esperemos que sucedan otros eventos como este en el norte de Perú para que tomemos conciencia sobre la importancia de nuestra biodiversidad. Somos responsables directos de conservar nuestra riqueza biológica por cada uno de nosotros y para las próximas generaciones.
EQUIPO BioS
We are really proud to see the photograph taken by one of our members, Cindy M. Hurtado, in the front page of the second 2016 volume of the Revista Peruana de Biologia journal. This photograph shows the Ecuadorian White-fronted capuchin monkey Cebus albifrons aequatorialis.
In this volume, Cindy and another of our members José Serrano-Villavicencio are the authors of the article “Population density and conservation of primates in the Noroeste biosphere reserve, Tumbes, Peru”.
You can directly download the article in the link below.
Download this PDF to see how to apply
Primates en Tumbes. Hurtado et al. 2016.pdf