All images are the property of mongabay.com, copyright 2005. Contact me regarding use and reproduction.
Click here if you are interested in see all the pictures for this topic -- including ones that did not make the cut. Manú Biosphere Reserve is renowned for its biodiversity and beautiful forests. Combined with the neighboring Candamo Reserve, the conservation zone covers 3.7-million acres from lowland rainforests to Andean cloud forests. About 1000 species of birds have been found in Manu, giving it the richest bird fauna of any place on Earth.

Recommended travel guides on Peru

Heliconia flower

Slash-and-burned section of rain forest

Green heron (Butorides striatus)

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Black grasshopper with indigo blue eyes and yellow polkadots

Male anole lizard displaying its bright orange dewlap

Rhetus periander butterfly

Colorful, but known grasshopper-like insect

White cauliflorous flowers growing out of tree trunk

White fungi on decaying log

Kapok (Ceiba) tree canopy observation platform

Heliconia flower

Monkey comb (Pithecoctenium crucigerum) seed pod

Vine growing up trunk of canopy tree

Stilt roots of walking palm tree

Palm flower

Pink heliconia

Papaya tree

Kapok (Ceiba) cotton

Palm flower

Ants on orange, yellow, and green flower structure

Ants on orange, yellow, and green flower structure

White Amazon lily

Vine growing up tree trunk

Red orange flower

Tree with vines on trunk

Duroia hirsuta trees in blood.

Heliconia flower

Purple mushrooms

Red flower

Purple / magenta flowers

Duroia hirsuta trees in blood.

View through palm leaf

Fruit of an epiphyte

Philodendron epiphyte in Kapok tree

Red fungi

Kapok (Ceiba) cotton

Kapok (Ceiba) cotton width small black seeds

Purple mushrooms

Kapok canopy platform

Spiral staircase leading up canopy tower

Canopy tower leading to platform in a Ceiba (Kapok) tree

Spiral staircase leading up rain forest canopy tower

Blind for observing red-and-green macaws at the Manu clay lick

Tourists on platform in giant Kapok tree overlooking the rain forest canopy

Village along the Rio Tambopata

Spiral staircase leading up to the canopy platform situated in a giant Kapok (Ceiba) tree

Blind for observing red-and-green macaws at the Manu clay lick

Path cleared for future development on forest island in the Rio Tambopata

Banana plantation in rainforest

Oxbow lake

Sunrise over rainforest along the Rio Tambopata

Banana plantation in rainforest

Log bridge in the rain forest

Felled rainforest tree

Tree along Rio Tambopata with yellow flowers

Forest along the Rio Tambopata

Oxbow lake

Riverside tree with Oropendula nests

Strangler fig tree, view from forest floor to canopy

Kapok (Ceiba) cotton as it bursts from pods (close)

Banana plantation in rainforest

Looking down from Kapok platform

Rainforest along the Rio Tambopata

Giant stranger fig (Ficus sp.)

Island forest off the Rio Tambopata

View of rain forest canopy from platform in Kapok tree

Deforested area as seen through trees

Felled canopy tree in Peru

Kapok (Ceiba) releasing cotton

Banana plants growing down to edge of oxbow lake

Felled canopy tree in Peru

Amazon foxtail, aquatic plant, in its wild habitat

Hollow in palm tree, used by nesting macaws

Oxbow lake

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the rain forest

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the Amazon rain forest of Peru

Kapok (Ceiba) cotton tree

Strangler fig tree

Strangler fig tree, view from forest floor to canopy

Foxtail aquatic plant and water lilies growing in natural habitat

Kapok (Ceiba) cotton as it bursts from pods (closeup)

Kapok (Ceiba) cotton as it bursts from pods

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the rain forest

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the Amazon rain forest of Peru

Foxtail aquatic plant growing in natural habitat

Strangler fig tree

Rainforest along the Rio Tambopata

Strangler fig tree buttress roots

Banana plantation in rainforest

Stranger fig roots wrapped around Kapok tree

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the rain forest

Multi-colored grasshoppers mating

Turniptail Gecko or Turnip-tailed Gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda) on tree trunk in Peru

Black insect (unknown)

Cobalt-winged parakeet (Brotogeris cyanoptera) feeding on Ceiba seeds

Ceiba borer beetle

White furry caterpillar with yellow head and two orange spots at base of head

Red-and-green macaws in flight above clay lick

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the Amazon rain forest of Peru

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Anole lizard on vine

Beetle

Beetle

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) in flight

Four Neotropic cormorants (Phalacrocorax olivaceus) on tree branch

Black moth with orange and green markings

Red rainforest crab

Large stick insect

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Beige grasshopper

Agouti in forest clearing

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Social flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis)

White butterfly

Neotropic cormorant

Ants

Ants

Panacea prola butterfly, wings open

Blue-and-yellow macaws inflight

Smokey jungle frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus)

Tarantula spider

Owl butterfly

Click beetle with glow lights

Black, gray, white and red spider

Dark brown centipede

Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) in vegetation along oxbow lake

Single red-and-green macaw (Ara chloroptera) on branch preparing to feed on clay wall

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Biblis hyperia butterfly sucking moisture from drying laundry

Walking stick insects mating

Black and yellow centipede

Arawacus butterfly

Beetle with black body, white and black back, and turquoise legs

Neotropic cormorant

Red-and-green macaw (Ara chloroptera) on clay lick

Agouti in forest clearing

Green grasshopper with yellow and black bands, and red, yellow, orange, and black striped legs

Large bamboo-like walking stick insect

Katydid

Katydid

Red-and-green macaws

Brown anole lizard

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) in vegetation along oxbow lake

Lycorea halia butterfly

Reddish-brown stick insect

Cobalt-winged parakeet (Brotogeris cyanoptera) feeding on Kapok seeds

Large white and yellow fury caterpillarthat resembles a shitzu

Mass of caterpillars on leaf litter of forest floor

Heraclides thoas butterfly on muddy bank

Possibly a Heliconius butterfly (species unknown)

Macaw clay lick from a distance

Pair of giant river otters

Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) in vegetation along oxbow lake

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Multi-colored butterfly on a beach (unknown species)

Possibly a morpho butterfly (species unknown)

Small black, red, yellow, and white beetle

Giant river otter eating a fish in the Amazon

Unknown frog

Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) in vegetation along oxbow lake

Unknown small frog (Epipedobates hahneli ?)

Giant river otter eating a fish in the Amazon

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Bee burrowing in the sand

Panacea prola butterfly, wings closed

Male Green Anolis lizard in canopy

Giant river otter eating a fish in the Amazon

Small green, gold, and brown scorpion

Small red beetle

Cobalt-winged parakeet (Brotogeris cyanoptera) feeding on Kapok seeds

Unknown butterfly with orange, brown, and white markings on outer part of the wing

Greater ani (Crotophaga major)

Blue-headed parrots (Pionus menstruus) and Yellow-crowned parrots (Amazona ochrocephala) feeding on clay wall

Yellow spotted Side-necked turtle (Podocnemis sp.) on log

Unknown frog

Yellow and red spider in web

Panacea prola butterfly, wings open

Callicore cynosura butterfly with wings closed

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Giant metallic ceiba borer beetle, Euchroma gigantea, on Kapok tree

Turquoise fly with black wings and bright red eyes

Phoebis philea and Anteos menippe butterflies in large group feeding on minerals in mud

Green, blue, yellow, red, and black grasshopper

Unknown butterfly with light and dark brown patterned wings and orange on the upper wing

Mass of caterpillars

Urania leilus day-flying or diurnal moth

Blue-headed parrots (Pionus menstruus) in tree

Glowing click beetle

Wattled jacana (Jacana jacana)

Unknown frog

Unknown butterfly with orange, brown, and white markings on outer part of the wing

Glowing click beetle

Ants

Ants

Brown capuchin monkey

Round black fury caterpillar

Giant River Otter feeding on fish

Blue-headed parrot (Pionus menstruus) feeding on clay lick

Yellow and black beetle on screen (unknown species)

Shitzu-like caterpillar, white and yellow fur

Ant nest made of leaves

Pair of red-and-green macaws fighting in a tree as parrots watch

Adelpha iphiclus butterfly on pebbles

Bright green male anole lizard on canopy tower

Leaf cutter ant carrying leaf

Nest of colony spiders (family: Araneidae)

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) in flight

Heliconius sara butterfly

Phoebis philea and Anteos menippe butterflies in large group feeding on minerals in mud

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Parrots in flight

Cobalt-winged parakeet (Brotogeris cyanoptera) feeding on Kapok (Ceiba) seeds

Brown grasshopper with white marking

Walking stick insects mating

Camouflaged spider on tree trunk

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) in flight

Brown katydid with green marking on its back

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Unknown butterfly with black and light blue outer wings

Round black fury caterpillar

Wattled jacana (Jacana jacana)

Yellow-green butterfly, possibly Nessaea obrinus with wings closed

Light green grasshopper with yellow and maroon striped legs

Giant river otter eating a fish in the Amazon

Anole lizard showing its bright orange dewlap in a territorial display

Black wasp on canopy platform

Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) in vegetation along oxbow lake

Common Piping Guan, Pipile pipile

White-throated Toucan (Ramphastos tucanus)

Vulture

Vulture

Male anole lizard on trunk of Kapok tree

Cobalt-winged parakeet (Brotogeris cyanoptera) in Kapok tree

Unknown butterfly with light and dark brown patterned wings and orange on the upper wing

Mating flies as view through palm leaf

Giant river otter eating a fish in the Amazon

Beetle with black body, white and black back, and turquoise legs

Giant river otter eating a fish in the Amazon

Panacea prola butterfly, wings open

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Praying mantis standing guard of its tree

Russet-backed Oropendula (Psarocolinus angustifrons) with hanging nests

Mass of caterpillars

Well camouflaged insect, resembling lichen

Dusky-headed parakeets (Aratinga weddellii)

Biblis hyperia butterfly, brown to black with red on its wings

Several side-necked turtles (Podocnemis sp.) on log

Anole lizard

Large white and yellow fury caterpillarthat resembles a shitzu

Striated heron

Red, black, and white insect

Beetle with black body, white and black back, and turquoise legs

Pair of giant river otters

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Giant River Otter feeding on fish

Ants

Ants

Amazon giant river otter making an agry face

Unknown small frog (Epipedobates hahneli ?)

Green, brown, and black insect

Colorful, but known grasshopper-like insect

Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera)

Red-and-green macaws in flight above clay lick

Light green grasshopper with yellow and maroon striped legs

Red-capped cardinal (Paroaria gularis)

Greenish-brown katydid

Amarynthis meneria butterfly on leaf

Recommended travel guides on Peru:

Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2008

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