Amazon Animal Encounters Part 2: The Dark Side

Sadly, not all of my encounters with Amazon animals were positive. While in the Amazon basin, I also saw animals that had been illegally taken from the wild to live locally as pets or to be exported to other countries for pets, trophies, or to be used in traditional medicines. Unfortunately, the illegal wildlife trade is highly lucrative and is a serious threat to endangered and vulnerable species. And Amazon rainforest animals are among the most frequently trafficked.

The illegal wildlife trade has been estimated to be worth between $5 billion and $20 billion annually (since it is illegal, it is difficult to obtain accurate numbers). This makes the trade of living animals second only to the drug industry in illegal revenue generation. To make matters worse, the industry is growing quickly now that the internet makes buying and selling animals so much easier.

I’m not proud of the fact that the USA is the second largest importer of wildlife products (after China) and a major destination for the illegal pet trade. Birds, reptiles, marine turtles, corals, and many species of mammals are regularly seized by US customs in shipments coming from Africa, Asia, Central America, and South America. In one year alone, over 38,000 mammals, 365,000 birds, 2 million reptiles, 49 million amphibians, and 216 million fish were brought into the United States illegally.

These animals are smuggled across borders the same way illegal drugs are: in crates (with little ventilation,  food, or water) marked as something else to elude customs often with little regard for whether the animal lives or dies. Due to these conditions, nearly 80% of the birds and reptiles that are illegally smuggled die in transit. For those exotic pets that make it to their new "home," over 50% die before reaching the age of 2.

Government Poster in Peru About the Illegal Pet Trade

While this practice is illegal in Peru, authorities often look the other way. Parrots, snakes, and monkeys are common pets of villagers along the Amazon and the sale of these animals (and others) in open markets in the small towns on the river’s edge is frequent.  

In one village on the bank of the Amazon, I found myself in a restaurant that had purchased a number of animals to keep in cages in hopes of bringing in more business. (Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this fact until after we had entered, and after one bottle of water, I left the restaurant.) The living conditions of these animals were wretched and I have no idea what diet was provided to them. When I was asked to pay for the photos I took of the animals, I (and my travel companions) refused. I told the owners that I did not approve of the practice and was not going to support it. Unfortunately, as long as tourists choose to patronize establishments that are patronizing the illegal animal trade, the practice will continue.

On my boat on the Amazon, I met a number of people with baby animals (turtles, parrots, macaws, coatis, monkeys) they had captured and were taking to sell in larger cities. Some of the people were open and willing to talk about it, others were not and wouldn’t allow photographs of the animals they were traveling with.

One family had a baby coati (mammals in the raccoon family) that had been taken from his mother. If you’ve never seen a coati before, here’s one I saw in a park in Argentina:

The little baby on my boat was on a rope tied to a pole on the side of the boat.

For the most part, the family didn’t pay attention to him. In fact, at one point, he fell off of the side of the boat and was hanging off the side of the boat by the rope around his neck screaming. Fortunately, he was pulled back to safety before damage was done. I’m a huge animal lover and I and two Peruvians took a liking to him and spent much of our time trying to feed him and holding the poor little scared guy.

The monkeys, however, were the hardest for me to bear. There were two different monkeys on one boat, both only a few months old. And while primates are my favorite animals, and being around them, especially babies, is always a treat, knowing how they got here and the life they were facing was terrible.

The two monkeys on my boat were a capuchin and a squirrel monkey. Both are highly social animals and live in the wild in groups of 10-50. Baby monkeys stay with their mothers for the first few months and capturing them requires shooting the mother out of a tree (with the baby clinging to her back) and hoping the baby survives the fall.

While having the opportunity to hold a baby monkey was an amazing treat, knowing that he was heading to a life without others of his species, without the ability to run in the trees, and without any freedom to be a monkey, broke my heart. Although I'm smiling in these pictures, I would have traded the opportunity to hold these babies if they could have their life back with their families in the wild.

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Amazon Animal Encounters Part 1: The Bright Side

More than one-third of all animal species in the world live in the Amazon rainforest – an area consisting of nearly 3 million square miles. For example, the river alone has over 2500 species of fish (some estimate closer to 5000), more than twice the number known in the entire Atlantic Ocean!

One of these fish, the paiche, is the largest freshwater fish in the world. It grows up to 10 feet long and can weigh over 400 pounds! The scales from this fish, when removed and dried, can even be used as nail files.

Another Amazonian fish is the piranha. There are over 40 different species of piranha in the Amazon. And very few actually attack humans. Hollywood has made these fish much more dangerous than they are in reality. But, attacks can happen. Like sharks, piranhas can smell blood. I was advised not to swim in the Amazon with an open cut. I took that advice.

Then there’s the electric eel – actually a species of fish and not an eel. These fellows live on the bottom of the river but need to surface for air every 10 minutes or so. And they are fiercely avoided by the locals. They grow up to 9 feet and can weigh up to 50 pounds. And when threatened, they can deliver a 650 volt shock – even up to 8 hours after their death! I’m happy to say I didn’t see any of these guys in the wild either!

But I did have the chance to see many animals in the Amazon: some in the wild and some in reserves on the banks of the river.

While on my boat trip, I spotted several Amazon dolphins. These freshwater dolphins look a bit different from their ocean-going kin. Although they are gray as youngsters, as they mature, they turn a pink color. They are amazing to see jumping out of the river with the sunset behind them! Unfortunately, they’re quite quick so I failed to snap a picture in the wild. I really didn’t even get a good picture in the animal reserve, but here’s one fellow on his back hoping for a tummy rub. ..

Another big, cuddly river mammal is the manatee. There are four species of manatees and the Amazon manatee is the only freshwater species. These are smaller than the other species, but no less adorable. I visited a manatee sanctuary whose mission is to educate the locals on the necessity of these animals and to rescue orphaned youngsters and reintroduce them to the wild.

Manatees eat the plants on the surface of the river allowing the sun to penetrate the depths and nourish plants on the river bottom. Without manatees, many plant, and eventually animal, species wouldn’t exist in the river due to lack of sunlight.

Another cuddly guy with a bad reputation is the anaconda, one of the longest (and heaviest) snakes in the world. They grow up to 16 feet long and can weigh over 200 pounds as adults! Hollywood sure hasn’t helped the reputation of this animal! Anacondas are a species of constrictor so reports of them eating humans are extremely exaggerated.

The little guy in this picture is just a toddler – only 3 years old – who could be scared of him?!?

Caimans are decidedly less cuddly. Caimans are related to alligators and crocodiles. Most are small (3-4 feet) but one species grows to over 12 feet. While on a night hike, I came across one small guy, his red eyes reflected in my flashlight – not something that’s fun to see.

During the day (and in a reserve) I came across a slightly larger caiman.

Ha ha. Here’s the real guy – and note that I wouldn’t have the smile on my face if he weren’t behind a fence!

The Amazon is also home to over 1000 species of frogs, many of which are poisonous. (The non-poisonous one is the one in my hand!)

Oh, and lastly, I can’t forget the capybara, the world’s largest rodent. The capybara grows up to 4 feet long and weighs up to 150 pounds! I’m thankful that the rodents behind my condo in Chicago don’t get that big!

The capybara spend most of their time in the water eating plants. They even have webbed feet to be better swimmers!

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Farmer's Market?

Iquitos, Peru is in the heart of the Amazon rain forest. Although it’s a large, modern city, it certainly isn't far from its jungle roots. I managed to find those roots at the local outdoor market.

This market sells many items found at farmer’s markets in other big cities.

But some of the meats for sale aren’t readily available where I come from in Chicago – such as turtles, caimans, snakes, and peccaries (local wild boars).

Aside from food items, the market had all sorts of other "interesting" jungle items for sale.

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A River Runs To It

Rather than exit Colombia via traditional means (by bus or by plane), I decided to approach via boat – on the Amazon River. 

The “Amazon” has such dramatic associations. It’s huge, there are exotic people living along the banks, it plunges through the rain forest, and it’s full of unique and interesting wildlife. All things that made me want to see it firsthand. And rather than just take a peek, I decided to spend a few days really taking it all in.

The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world (after the Nile in Africa – although the length of both is continuously disputed). However, the amount of water flowing through the Amazon is more than the next 7 largest rivers combined! This one river accounts for 20% of the world’s freshwater flow. The river, in parts, is over 300 feet deep and at its widest (during rainy season) the river is over 30 miles across! Where it enters the Atlantic Ocean, the mouth of the river is over 50 miles across. And, due to the remoteness of any settlements along the Amazon, there are no bridges which cross it. This isn’t a river like the river down the hill from my house where I used to skip stones and this certainly isn’t something I wanted to miss.

I bought a ticket on a four day river “cruise” into Peru. Although I should note that I use the term “cruise” liberally. We slept in hammocks tied up on the upper deck of the boat:

I certainly didn’t have a private bathroom:

And the shower facilities were. . .basic:

The water was brown and cold, pulled straight up from the river below us.Oh,and this spigot, was just over the toilet you saw in the last picture. . .

All that said, I wouldn’t trade this trip for anything! I enjoyed four days of lying in a hammock watching the Amazon go by. 

We certainly weren’t the only boat on the river. . .

Every few hours or so we’d pass a few homes or a small town. And the houses are built on stilts since the Amazon rises over 30 feet in rainy season.

A boat leaves one of the main ports every day and the daily boat brings the only supplies to these towns from the outside world. As the boat approaches, the people of the town gather to see who and what today’s shipment is bringing.. .

In one town, a group of teenage boys excitedly hopped aboard the boat when it docked to unload supplies. They ran up to the third level of the boat and gathered along the rail. . .it seems the boat brought the entertainment for the day – diving off the third story “high dive” into the river below!

My trip ended in Iquitos, Peru. This jungle town is accessible only by boat or plane (there are no roads leading this deep into the jungle), yet the city has over 100,000 inhabitants. Quite different from the small towns we passed en route. 

Welcome to Peru, indeed! 

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