It’s not necessarily an accolade you’d want to have – the Amazon’s smelliest bird. But for the pheasant-sized Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), there isn’t much choice. Bluntly put, it reeks of manure – a fact that locals, who call it the “stinkbird”, know well. The upside of this unflattering...
The Ecuadorian Amazon is home to Indigenous communities who have been guardians of the forests they live in for generations. In Orellana, one of these communities is El Eden, a Kichwa community of approximately 500 people. El Eden has a thriving Women's Association who are working together to grow...
In the murky waters of the Amazon, the Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) once reigned supreme. Today, it is rapidly disappearing, pushed towards the brink by human activity. With our autumn appeal, Protecting the Ecuadorian Amazon, you can support our partner Nature and Culture in Ecuador to...
The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest and perhaps the most well-known region in the world, but decades of deforestation have left it under serious threat. By supporting our new appeal: Protecting the Ecuadorian Amazon, you can help communities safeguard their land in the Orellana province...
EcoMinga’s Reserve Manager and leading amphibian expert Juan Pablo Reyes-Puig is no stranger to new discoveries. In 2014, he helped identify three new frog species (Pristimantis puruscafeum, P. marcoreyesi, and P. punzan) and then, in 2019, two more (P. mallii and Noblella naturetrekii), and in...
Research undertaken in the montane cloud forests of western Ecuador has revealed a previously unknown genus of medium-sized rats known as Pattonimus. Scientists have described two new species, naming one after World Land Trust (WLT) partner Fundación EcoMinga. It’s not every day that a new mammal...
Mindo Glass Frog (Nymphargas balionotus), seen just twice in the wild since it was first described in 1975, has become the highlight of a new scientific paper identifying the Rio Manduriacu Reserve as a key breeding site for the species. Rio Manduriacu Reserve, in the Pacific Western Andes, is...
