Lowland Tapir
One of South America’s largest terrestrial mammals (Tapirus terrestris) and a keystone seed-disperser across long distances. Its decline is an early warning that forest regeneration and carbon storage are weakening.
Active program · Reserva Comunal Ashaninka
Indigenous-led camera trapping for the EDGE species of the Amazon.
A permanent camera-trap network in the Biosphere Reserve of Avireri-Vraem, led by Ashaninka park rangers and youth. Traditional Ecological Knowledge and field science combine to document and protect species at the ecological edge — Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered.
The ecological edge
Large mammals on the edge of the Amazon.
The Amazon faces a rapid biodiversity decline driven by deforestation, road expansion, illegal logging, mining, and climate instability. Large mammals are the first to disappear: habitat fragmentation and hunting pressure narrow their range faster than national monitoring systems can track them.
The Reserva Comunal Ashaninka, inside the Biosphere Reserve of Avireri-Vraem in central Peru, is co-managed by Ashaninka communities and SERNANP. Park rangers and youth from those communities know the forest at a resolution no remote-sensing dataset can match — and they are the first responders to every threat that crosses the reserve boundary.
ARI works alongside them to install and sustain the first permanent camera-trap network in the reserve, linking Traditional Ecological Knowledge with spatial ecology so the species recorded today can still be recorded in 2050.
Their survival is a measure of whether the Amazon, as we know it, will still be standing for the next generation.
Ongoing projects
Two flagship species, one connected program.
Two EDGE species anchor the program — the lowland tapir and the giant armadillo — and three crosscutting workstreams sustain the monitoring: Indigenous training, spatial ecology, and a parallel zoopharmacognosy line of inquiry.
Giant Armadillo
A rare, nocturnal ecosystem engineer (Priodontes maximus) whose burrows shelter more than seventy other species. Highly sensitive to hunting and habitat disturbance, and almost invisible without sustained nocturnal monitoring.
Indigenous Monitoring
Ashaninka park rangers and youth lead camera installation, retrieval, and species interpretation. Tracking knowledge passed down across generations is paired with field-data forms and identification keys built jointly with ARI ecologists.
Spatial Ecology
Camera-trap records feed a species-distribution model for the reserve and its buffer zone — identifying priority protection corridors and zones where threat mitigation needs to come first.
Zoopharmacognosy
A parallel research line studying how wild animals use medicinal plants inside the ecosystem — bridging wildlife ecology, Indigenous plant knowledge, and behavioral science.
Scientific Publishing
Field results are written up jointly with Ashaninka co-authors and prepared for peer-reviewed publication — so Indigenous-led monitoring stands as a documented contribution to conservation science.
Outcomes
What the program has delivered.
Verified results since the camera-trap network was installed in 2025.
- 2025 First permanent camera-trap network established inside the Reserva Comunal Ashaninka.
- 2025 Twelve Ashaninka park rangers and youth trained in biodiversity monitoring and species identification.
- 2025 More than 35 species documented, including tapir, giant armadillo, jaguar, puma, Andean bear, peccaries, deer species, smaller armadillos, and a long bird list.
- 2025 Spatial species-distribution layer drafted to flag priority protection and threat-mitigation zones.
- — Two scientific papers in preparation, co-authored with Ashaninka monitors and SERNANP.
Indigenous wisdom is fundamental to conservation success. We bring our traditions and our knowledge into modern science.
— Richar Demetrio · Ashaninka Scientist & Park Ranger
These cameras let us understand the fauna of the reserve and design conservation strategies that actually work.
— David Cárdenas · Director, Reserva Comunal Ashaninka (SERNANP)
Policy relevance
Evidence for the next decade of conservation.
Camera-trap records, training outputs, and the spatial-ecology layer contribute directly to Peru’s National Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD Targets 4 and 21), and the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme mandates that govern the Avireri-Vraem reserve.
Co-developed with the Reserva Comunal Ashaninka and SERNANP. Project startup support · On the Edge.
In the press
How the program has been covered.
Selected coverage of the camera-trap program and the Ashaninka monitoring team.
Get involved
Support the next field season.
Sponsor a camera trap and help fund the next field season — your support keeps a monitoring station running, operated by Ashaninka park rangers. We are also onboarding institutional partners, equipment sponsors, and research collaborators.
Partners · Reserva Comunal Ashaninka · SERNANP · On the Edge · Dr. Elodie Freymann.