November 28, 2017

One year ago today, on Nov. 28, 2016, LaMia Flight 2933 crashed in the mountains of northwestern Colombia, killing 71 people. The dead included nearly the entire Chapecoense soccer team from Chapecó, Brazil. The disaster broke the hearts of family, friends, and fans alike. Today, soccer stadiums throughout South America went silent to remember the dead on the crash’s first anniversary.

On Dec. 3, 2016, Brazilian air force members carry the coffin of a Chapecoense player during a memorial service for the team’s players, coaches, and staff killed in the crash of Flight 2933. Brazilian President Michel Temer was among the more than 20,000 mourners at the rain-soaked service at Chapecó’s Arena Condá. Credit: © Buda Mendes, Getty Images

Brazilians refer to soccer as o jogo bonito (the beautiful game). The phrase was popularized by Brazilian soccer superstar Pelé, who played for Santos FC (Football Club) in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Santos, located in a suburb of São Paolo, has long been one of the best teams in Brazil’s top league, the Campeonato Brasileiro (Brazilian Championship). Chapecoense is a league rival of Santos, but low-budget Chapecoense is virtually starless and has earned few honors. In 2016, however, the team—often called Chape—had a fine season and made an unlikely run through the Copa Sudamericana, an annual tournament among the best professional soccer clubs of South America. In November, Chape was preparing to play for the Copa championship for the first time in team history. The club and its fans were understandably excited as the team left home for the opening match against Atlético Nacional at its home park in Medellín, Colombia. Chape took a commercial flight from São Paolo to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, where the team picked up a charter flight to Medellín with LaMia, a small local airline. That flight never made it to José María Córdova International Airport, however; the plane crashed in the mountains short of its destination on the night of Nov. 28, 2016. The crash killed 71 of the 77 people on board. The flight roster included players, coaches and staff, aircrew, journalists, and guests.

The crash wiped out nearly the entire Chape team and devastated the families and fans back in Chapecó. The disaster also rattled the entire soccer world, where teams regularly fly to distant matches and—like most people who travel routinely—take flight safety for granted. Teams all around the world honored Chapecoense by observing a minute of silence before matches, and many teams in South America added Chape patches to their own team uniforms. Atlético Nacional—Chape’s would-be opponents in the Copa final—insisted that Chapecoense be named that year’s tournament champion, and on December 5, it was. Like Chape, Nacional had never won the Copa Sudamericana.

LaMia Flight 2933 took off from Santa Cruz de la Sierra at 6:18 p.m. local time—it was running a bit late. To make up time, the pilot scrubbed a scheduled refueling stop at Cobija on Bolivia’s northern border. A Bolivian aviation official urged the pilot to keep the original flight plan because the 4 hour and 22 minute nonstop journey to Medellín was the same length as the plane’s maximum flight range. The pilot ignored the official, as well as an international rule requiring aircraft to carry enough fuel for 30 minutes of flight beyond the destination.

As Flight 2933 neared Medellín, its scheduled touchdown was delayed to allow another flight to make an emergency landing. Just minutes after entering a holding pattern, the pilot began requesting help from air traffic controllers. In distress, he reported that the plane was “in total failure, total electrical failure, without fuel.” Contact with Flight 2933 was then lost.

At 9:59 p.m. local time—4 hours and 41 minutes after takeoff—Flight 2933 crashed into Cerro Gordo mountain near La Unión, a town just southeast of Medellín. Rescuers arrived soon after, finding wreckage strewn over an area 330 feet (100 meters) in diameter. The plane had split in two upon impact, but it did not explode or burn: there was no remaining fuel. Ironically, the empty fuel tanks allowed six people to survive the crash: three players, two aircrew (a flight attendant and a flight technician), and one journalist. Blame for the crash fell on the pilot of LaMia Flight 2933, who was also a part owner in the charter airline. Bolivia suspended LaMia’s operating certificate after the crash, and legal action was taken against several LaMia executives.

On December 3, more than 20,000 people attended a memorial service at Chapecó’s Arena Condá, Chapecoense’s home stadium. In a steady downpour, coffins containing the bodies of the Chape players, coaches, and staff killed in the crash were carried into the stadium and placed upon a platform beneath a banner reading “Força Chape” (Strength to Chape). The mourners, most bedecked in Chape’s green and white colors, then formed an immense line that wound through the stadium as people paid final, close-up tributes to the players who had meant so much to them.

On Jan. 21, 2017, a reconstituted Chapecoense returned to the pitch to begin a new season. The team received its Copa Sudamericana champions medals at an emotional ceremony that also remembered the dead of Flight 2933. Chape crash survivors Alan Ruschel (recovered from spinal surgery) and Hélio Neto (who suffered severe trauma to his lungs, skull, and thorax) have since rejoined the team. Goalkeeper Jakson Follmann, who lost a leg in the crash, hopes to represent Brazil in paralympic soccer.

November 2, 2017

A recent report released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Brazilian Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development details 381 new animal and plant species discovered in the Amazon rain forest over a 24-month period. The report, titled “New Species of Vertebrates and Plants in the Amazon 2014-2015,” lists 216 new plants, 93 new fish, 32 new amphibians, 20 new mammals, 19 new reptiles, and 1 new bird in the vast Amazon region that spans several South American countries. The Amazon rain forest contains a wider variety of plant and animal life than any other place on Earth.

Milton’s titi monkeys (Callicebus miltoni), also known as fire-tailed zogue zogues, are seen here in the jungles of the Mato Grasso in Brazil. The monkeys were among 381 new animal and plant species recently discovered in the Amazon rain forest. Credit: © Adriano Gambarini, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia/SciELO

Among the new species of Amazon fish is the freshwater honeycomb stingray (Potamotrygon limai). Most stingrays live in shallow parts of the world’s oceans and in saltwater bays, but the honeycomb stingray lives in fresh water. The pattern on its back, or dorsal side, is usually dark brown with honeycomb-like speckles. The new mammals include a previously unknown species of pink river dolphin (Inia araguaiaensis). Analyses of skull bones of the new pink river dolphin show it to be different from other Amazon River dolphins and Bolivian river dolphins. Scientists believe the newly described dolphin parted from its Amazon basin cousins some 2.8 million years ago. There may be about 1,000 of these newly found pink river dolphins in the Amazon River system. The construction of hydroelectric dams and industrial, agricultural, and cattle ranching activities threaten the new pink river dolphin as well as many other forms of life.

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The Amazon rain forest, the richest and most diverse ecosystem on Earth, covers much of northern South America. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Another new Amazon mammal is Milton’s titi monkey, known locally as the fire-tailed zogue zogue (Callicebus miltoni). Milton’s titi is known for its long, red-orange bushy tail and ocher sideburns and beards. The small primate weighs about 3 1/3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) and is named in honor of Milton Thiago de Mello, a noted Brazilian primatologist. The newly described monkey lives in southern parts of the Amazon region. Unfortunately, the small new titi population is threatened by deforestation.

This most recent WWF report is the third in a series that has listed some 2,000 new animal and plant species over the past 17 years. The report comes amid growing environmental disputes between mining interests and conservationists in Brazil, where a majority of the Amazon rain forest lies. Accelerated rates of habitat destruction in the region could push many of these new species to extinction before scientists have the chance to study them. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has already labeled several of the newly identified plants and animals as threatened or endangered. In addition, the WWF is calling for urgent action to protect the Amazon rain forest itself. Aside from deforestation and pollution from agriculture, logging, and mining, a recent presidential decree in Brazil may eradicate an Amazonian nature reserve the size of Switzerland.

March 24, 2017

If you are lucky enough to go camping along the banks of the Paraná River in the Argentine Pampas of South America, be sure to carry an ultraviolet (UV) flashlight with you. Among the leaves, vines, and creepy crawlies, you just might find glow-in-the-dark frogs! A couple of weeks ago, a team of researchers from the University of Buenos Aires and Brazil’s University of São Paulo discovered the first fluorescent frog near Santa Fe, a city in northeastern Argentina. Yes, these frogs can create their own light! This first fluorescent frog, the polka dot tree frog, is already well-known and commonly found throughout the Pampas and the nearby Amazon Basin, so it is not a new species. But scientists did not know the amphibians had fluorescent “power” until now.

The one-and-only glow-in-the-dark polka dot tree frog changes color at sunset. Credit: © Carlos Taboada, Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum (Buenos Aires)

The capability to absorb light at short wavelengths and re-emit it at longer wavelengths is called fluorescence. It is uncertain why some animals have this ability, but it may be used to communicate, for camouflage, or to attract a mate. Fluorescence is fairly common in the ocean, where fish, plankton, and even sea turtles can emit their own light. In the desert, scorpions also glow in the dark. But never before has anyone seen a phosphorescent amphibian. Scientists found that the 1.2-inch (3-centimeter) polka dot tree frog’s glowing ability come from a compound found in the lymph and skin glands of its translucent (see-through) body. The fluorescence does not work in complete darkness, but rather at twilight, when the frog’s skin has recently absorbed light, and its color goes from a dull pale green with speckled white, yellow, or reddish spots, to a bright green with dark spots.

A polka dot tree frog (Hypsiboas punctatus) pretends to be just like any other tree frog during the day. Credit: © Patrick K. Campbell, Shutterstock

There are thousands of frog species around the world, and they live on every continent except Antarctica. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that new frog species are discovered fairly often. Their sometimes tiny size and reclusive habits in the remotest of forests make some frogs extremely hard to find. The polka dot tree frog may be the first fluorescent frog known to science, but the ever-evolving natural world is bound to be hiding others in the darkest corners of Earth—just keep your UV light on and your eyes open!

February 17, 2017

Earlier in February, scientists learned that the dorado catfish (also known as the dourada or gilded catfish) of South America has the longest migration of any freshwater fish. These large catfish live in the Amazon River Basin, and their migratory path takes them from the foothills of the Andes Mountains to the mouth of the Amazon River on the Atlantic Ocean, and then back again—a trip of more than 7,200 miles (11,600 kilometers)!

The long-traveling dorado catfish navigates the waters of the Amazon River Basin throughout its life. Credit: © Michael Goulding, Wildlife Conservation Society

Catfish have pairs of fleshy whiskerlike growths near the mouth. These growths, called barbels, resemble the whiskers of a cat. Catfish differ from most other fish in that they do not have scales. Catfish live in many different places around the world, and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The dorado catfish (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii) is just one of several different species (kinds) of catfish that live in the Amazon River and its many tributaries. Dorados can grow beyond 6 feet (2 meters) in length and are grouped with other “goliath” catfish, so named because of their large proportions. Their lengthy migration has long been suspected, but only recently have the details of their epic migratory journey been confirmed. A study of the distribution of larvae, juveniles, and mature dorados showed where the fish tend to be at different stages of life. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was a group effort led by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Amazon Waters Initiative. Ronaldo Barthem from the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi in Brazil led the research team.

This map shows the remarkable migration of the dorado catfish through the Amazon River Basin. Credit: © Wildlife Conservation Society

Barthem and his team found that dorados spawn in the Andes waters of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The larvae then begin a precarious journey downriver, finding their way through such tributaries as the Madeira, the Marañón, and the Rio Negro—all major rivers themselves—to the mighty Amazon itself. The young catfish grow as they travel eastward, following the currents across Brazil to the eventual end of the Amazon north of Marajó Island on the Atlantic coast. There the fish gather in the vast and organically rich waters of the estuary, feeding, growing, and maturing. After a couple years, the fish get the urge to travel back upriver, taking the long swim—another two years—back to the spawning grounds where the life cycle begins again.

Dorados also live in the rivers of Guyana and Venezuela, and they are an important food fish for people throughout the Amazon Basin. Dorado catfish are not an endangered species, but their migration becomes increasingly difficult each year because of damming, deforestation, mining, and pollution.

Salmon and eels are other fish known for their long migrations, but their routes combine saltwater and freshwater routes and still fall short of the long swim of el dorado.

January 17, 2017

On Saturday, January 14, weary and filthy racers from all over the world pulled their off-road vehicles onto the streets of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, completing the final stage of the Dakar Rally. The racers entered the city and crossed the finish line after 12 grueling days of gritty cross-country racing, covering 5,457 miles (8,782 kilometers) of dirt, rock, and sand. The race began in Asunción, Paraguay, on January 2, running north into Bolivia before winding back south to Argentina.

An off-road racer climbs the desert dunes near Ica, Peru, during the 2013 Dakar Rally. Credit: © Christian Vinces, Shutterstock

The Dakar Rally, once known as the Paris-Dakar Rally, is an annual cross-country endurance race. The rally includes five different vehicle categories: cars, motorcycles, quads (all-terrain vehicles, or ATV’s), trucks, and—new this year—utility task vehicles, or UTV’s (a two-seater style of ATV). The first Dakar Rally began on Dec. 26, 1978, as 182 motorcycles and cars revved their engines on the Place du Trocadéro in Paris, France, preparing for the 6,200-mile (10,000-kilometre) journey to Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Covering more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) per day, the winning racers crossed the Dakar finish line on Jan. 14, 1979 (just 74 vehicles completed the race). The racers followed a route from Paris to Marseille, where boats carried them across the Mediterranean Sea to Algeria. From there, the route continued through the dunes and dust of Niger, Mali, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and, finally, Senegal.

The Dakar Rally continued annually and gained popularity, reaching a peak of 688 racers in 2005. In 2008, security threats in Mauritania (Mali’s neighbor to the west) shut down the race, and it was moved to the deserts and scrubland of South America. The 2017 Dakar Rally began with 566 racers. The winning drivers came from Brazil, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

To compensate for negative impacts of the race on the environment, Dakar Rally sponsors donate large sums to the Madre de Dios project that works to protect the Amazon rain forest and other natural habitats of South America. Race routes avoid sensitive archaeological or paleontological sites, and strict cleanup and recycling rules ensure the integrity of the stunning natural landscapes that define the spectacle of the rally.

December 26, 2016

Some people are brave enough not to scream when they find a creepy, finger-sized house centipede in their home. However, the sight of a forearm-sized Amazonian giant centipede skittering along the wall would cause nearly anyone to shriek and run away. Growing to about 1 foot (30 centimeters) long, the Amazonian giant centipede is the largest living centipede on Earth. Its segmented body is coppery red to dark maroon in color, and its 42 to 46 legs are red or yellow. It lives in the Amazon rain forest and other tropical forests of South America. Like other centipedes, its body does not retain water very well, so it prefers to spend time in humid, moist places, such as leaf litter, rotten logs, and damp caves.

Amazonian giant centipede (Scolopendra gigantea). Credit: Katka Nemčoková (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

Most centipedes feed on insects and spiders, but the Amazonian giant centipede is so large that it also eats such vertebrates (animals with backbones) as lizards, snakes, mice, birds, and frogs. The massive centipede uses its front legs as sharp claws to catch prey. Once an animal is caught, the centipede delivers a terrible bite with its mandibles (jaw structures) and injects a dose of powerful venom that paralyzes its victim, allowing the creepy hunter to enjoy a fresh meal. The Amazonian giant centipede is even known to hunt bats in their roosting caves. With its back legs anchored onto the cave ceiling, the centipede dangles itself upside-down and waits in the darkness to catch a bat in mid-flight.

For people, a bite from an Amazonian giant centipede is extremely painful and can cause swelling, fever, weakness, and vomiting. Luckily, humans are too big for even the biggest centipedes to eat, so Amazonian giant centipedes do not attack humans unless threatened. In fact, many farmers and gardeners in tropical South America are happy to have these many-legged monsters around, because they help to keep pest populations under control.

October 19, 2016

In the Serranía de la Macarena mountain range of south-central Colombia, a river sparkles and dazzles with such vivid colors that it is known alternatively as the “River of Five Colors” or the “Liquid Rainbow”—even “the river that ran away from paradise.” Officially called the Caño Cristales (Crystal Spout), the river’s iridescent waters glitter bright red, orange, yellow, green, and purple as they splash over feisty rapids and waterfalls and swirl in whirling pits.

The waters of Colombia’s Caño Cristales bloom with vibrant color each autumn. Credit: Mario Carvajal (licensed under CC BY 3.0)

The river’s colors come from black rocks, green algae, yellow sands, and blue waters, but the distinctive vibrant red—the key ingredient in this liquid rainbow—comes from a tropical riverweed called macarenia clavigera that has adapted to the river’s rushing waters and rocky riverbed. These aquatic plants bloom only for a couple months between the region’s wet and dry seasons, however. So for much of the year, the Caño Cristales runs the ho-hum colors of white, brown, and mossy green. Macarenia clavigera requires certain specific conditions—precise levels of water and sunlight—to thrive and take on its bright hues. From late summer into autumn, the Caño Cristales is one of the few places on Earth that meets these conditions.

Colombia lies at the northwestern tip of South America. The country has a remarkably diverse topography with deserts, jungles, snow-capped mountains, plains, and rain forests, as well as beaches on both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The Caño Cristales is just one of the nation’s large number of beautiful natural features. The river runs through a remote area of the Serranía de la Macarena National Park, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) south of Bogotá, the Colombian capital. No roads reach the river, and it can only be visited on foot or horseback—or, more often, donkey-back. The Caño Cristales is a tributary of the Guayabero River, which in turn is a tributary of the Orinoco.

August 17, 2016

Eons ago, a monstrous beast stalked an ancient South American floodplain. One of its enormous footprints in the soft clay was covered with layers of silt and was preserved for some 70 million years. Last month, the track was discovered, revealing that huge predatory dinosaurs lived in South America up until the extinction of the group about 65 million years ago.

The record-setting dinosaur footprint was found at Maragua Crater near Sucre, Bolivia, a site already known for other, smaller dinosaur tracks. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Dinosaurs are a group of prehistoric reptiles that ruled Earth for about 160 million years. Most of these animals died millions of years ago, but their direct descendants—birds—continue to flourish today. Dinosaurs have fascinated people ever since they were first described in the early 1800′s as having strange appearances and huge sizes. Scientists now know that not all dinosaurs were large. Many, such as the microraptor and compsognathus, were, in fact, quite small.

The South American footprint, however, belonged to something gigantic with really big feet. It was found about 45 miles (60 kilometers) outside of Sucre, the official capital city of Bolivia, by a local tour guide. At some 45 inches (115 centimeters) wide, it is the largest carnivorous (meat-eating) dinosaur footprint ever discovered. The previous record was nothing to sneeze at either: a 40-inch (110-centimeter) wide track from New Mexico, a state in the southwestern United States.

The animal that made the South American print probably belonged to a group of dinosaurs called abelisaurids, large meat-eaters with short skulls and tiny arms that lived in South America, Africa, and India. Based on the enormous size of the footprint, scientists think the dinosaur could have been up to 40 feet (12 meters) long.

The discovery of this footprint helps paleontologists fill in the history of large meat-eating dinosaurs in South America. Giganotosaurus, one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs known, stalked the continent some 95 million years ago. But Giganotosaurus probably died out after 5 million years or so, and paleontologists had not found fossil evidence of any large carnivores taking its place. The print was dated at 70 million years old, showing that abelisaurids took over after the demise of Giganotosaurus. With any luck, paleontologists will soon find the bones of these giant hunters and better understand the ecology of South America at the end of the age of dinosaurs.