ACA Encounters Species Never Previously Seen in the Bolivian Pampas

October 22, 2010

 During field trips earlier this year to the community of Toromonas, in northwestern Bolivia, ACA-Bolivia team members came across four species that had never previously been registered in that location. These species include the lesser sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx leptura), and several birds: the black manakin (Xenopipo atronitens), Snethlage’s tody-tyrant (Hemitriccus minor), the brownish twistwing (Cnipodectes subbrunneus), Thamnophilus stictocephala, and Heterocercus linteatu.

ACA conducted these biological inventories as part of its work with the Takana indigenous communities who are the guardians of the remote and clearly understudied Pampas del Heath savannas just north of Madidi National Park. ACA staff have created monitoring protocols for hunting and fishing in order to develop management plans for local biodiversity conservation in these communities. By learning how to measure the impact of their own hunting and fishing activities and role of local wildlife, the community members are establishing sustainable hunting and fishing practices for the future. (Photos by Omar Martinez)