Published: 08/20/2018
Cusco. Park rangers from the Megantoni National Sanctuary (Cusco), captured images of a spectacled bear (Tremarctos Ornatus) observed for the first time within the protected natural area. Before this record, only a large number of tracks and traces were found in different areas of the sanctuary, which indicated the presence of healthy populations of this species.
This record was made during the transfer of the park rangers from the Sanctuary and the Manu National Park (Edhysson Ccoyllo and Percy Mendoza) to the Lacco sector for the mitigation and control actions of a forest fire that was registered in the buffer zone of the Sanctuary.
This type of evidence highlights the importance of protecting these areas classified as a great altitude corridor for the migration of various species.
Video source: SERNANP
About the Megantoni National Sanctuary
The Megantoni National Sanctuary is a protected natural area administered by the SERNANP (National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State). It is located in the district of Echarate, province of La Convencion, department of Cusco, and has an area of 215,868.96 hectares. Just a few days ago, it turned 14 years of creation after an initiative developed since the early 90s by local populations, mainly Machiguengas communities.
There are 38 native communities of four different ethnic groups in the Lower and Upper Urubamba basins, north and south of Megantoni. The Machiguenga, Ashaninka, Yine Yami, and Nanti people have lived in these forests for thousands of years, hunting, fishing, and cultivating their small farms. For many of them, their spiritual roots are centered in Megantoni, especially in the turbulent waters of the Pongo de Maenique — the sacred place where souls move between this world and the next, and where the world was created.
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