Whale Beached in Amazon

Related Newser Stories

• In Remote Amazon, Complex Towns Once Flourished

  Aug 29, 08 2:50 PM CDT
  Researchers have unearthed remains of densely populated, complex urban towns in a remote region of the Amazon River Basin, the BBC reports. In an area of western Brazil thought to be virgin forest, researchers found extensive and advanced human activity, including roads, farming, wetland management, and what appear to be fish farms built prior to Europeans landing in the 15th century. More »

• Half of Amazon Could Be Gone in 20 Years

  Jun 19, 08 6:58 PM CDT
  An "unprecedented" combination of ills is threatening the Amazon, and if nothing is done to ease the pressure on the world’s largest rainforest, more than half of it could be gone or withered in 20 years, Rhett Butler writes for Yale Environment 360. After a three-year decline, forest clearing doubled in the latter part of 2007 to help feed the insatiable demand of the growing economies in China, India, Russia, and elsewhere. More »

• First Contact With Amazon Tribe

  May 30, 08 7:25 AM CDT
  One of the last remaining Amazon tribal communities yet to have contact with the outside world has been photographed from the air, reports the BBC. The photos show startled, red-painted tribesmen aiming arrows at the aircraft overhead. Members live in thatched huts near Brazil's remote Peruvian border. More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru. Brazil's government took the photos as part of a push to protect the tribes. More »

• Brazil's Condoms Go Tropical

  Apr 8, 08 6:55 PM CDT
  Brazil buys more condoms and boasts more rainforest than any other country; now officials hope to connect the dots, the BBC reports. The government will use rubber from Amazon trees to make 100 million condoms a year, given out freely as part of the country's anti-AIDS program. Rubber can be obtained without destroying trees and is widely available. More »

• Brazil Targets Amazon Loggers

  Mar 21, 08 9:33 AM CDT
  Brazil is launching a new crackdown against the loggers who are destroying the Amazon rainforest at alarming rates, the Washington Post reports. After several years of decline, deforestation is surging as cattle ranchers clear land and loggers cut down trees for charcoal to fuel steel mills abroad. But Brazil will have to find another way for the region's people to make a living; in some towns, 70% of citizens work in the logging industry. More »