PERU WILDLIFE

Peru boasts what is probably the most diverse array of wildlife of any country on earth; its varied ecological niches span an incredible range of climate and terrain. And although mankind has occupied the area for perhaps twenty thousand years, there has been less disturbance there, until relatively recently, than in most other parts of our planet. For the sake of organization these pages follow the country’s usual regional divisions – coastal desert, Andes mountains and tropical jungle – though a more accurate picture would be that of a continuous intergradation, encompassing literally dozens of unique habitats. From desert the land climbs rapidly to the tundra of mountain peaks, then down again into tropical rainforest, moving gradually through a whole series of environments in which many of the species detailed overlap