A project to document endangered mammals in the Amazon has resulted in an incredibly rare video of a baby giant armadillo in the wild. The camera trap that captured the images was installed by Amazon Research International in the Native Community of San Francisco in Loreto, in the Peruvian Amazon. “Giant armadillos are among the most difficult animals to see with a camera trap,” says conservationist Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, founder of Amazon Research International, in the latest episode of the BBC’s Wild Lives wildlife podcast. “People can spend more than a year [with] hundreds of cameras to try to get a single clip. We have been able to do it in a short period, with very limited [cameras]based on indigenous knowledge with our indigenous colleagues.” The giant armadillo is the largest armadillo in the world and its burrows are also used by many other Amazon species for shelter and food. They breed only every three years in very small numbers and are increasingly threatened by rainforest fragmentation and hunting. Images of a baby giant armadillo highlight this part of the Amazon as a critical space for conservation. The region is already being actively protected by monitoring stingless bees and their trees where they nest, meaning these small pollinators also ensure the protection of larger animals like the giant armadillo. A baby giant armadillo is captured on video in the Peruvian Amazon. Credit: Amazon Research International Amazon Research International plans to use this new footage as evidence to spearhead the introduction of a local law in Loreto that calls for the protection of the giant armadillo and other larger mammals on the IUCN Red List. These mammals serve as key indicators of the health of forests in the area. Amazonas The organization recently helped introduce the same law in Satipo, in the province of Junín, located in the central Amazon rainforest of Peru. Rosa’s work with stingless bees led to them becoming the world’s first insect protected by legal rights. Credit: Miryan Delgado “Seeing a baby giant armadillo is not something we ever dreamed of, and it was just there with its little fingers and just playing,” says Rosa. “It’s very hopeful for us to see all this wildlife.” complete with Rosa on the latest episode of Wild Lives – listen below or find Wild Lives wherever you get your podcasts.
