Raised
Show on google maps →The Habitat
Peroles is part of the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot, the most biologically diverse region on Earth, and also one of the most threatened areas on the globe. The area also lies within the Condor-Kutuku conservation corridor, which allows organisms to travel between areas and reduces forest fragmentation.
Peroles lies between six nationally and privately protected areas. The terrain is rugged with high ridges and deep valleys between 1,800 and 2,400 meters above sea level. The habitat is characterized by primary premontane and montane forests, dominated by Ficus spp.
Ecoregion: Peruvian Yungas (NT0153)
At Peroles, NPC has registered:
234 bird species,
44 reptile and amphibian species, and
37 large mammal species, including an especially dense population of the endemic and Critically Endangered Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda) and the endemic and Endangered Andean Night Monkey (Aotus miconax).
Other threatened species in the habitat include:
- Endangered White-bellied Spider Monkey (Ateles belzebuth)
- Vulnerable Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus)
- Vulnerable Long-whiskered Owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi)
- Near Threatened Royal Sunangel (Heliangelus regalis)
- Near Threatened Jaguar (Panthera onca)
Local Partner NGO
Status of registration at the national level
Nonprofit association in Peru
Governance and management structure of the group
NPC Peru is an independent office of NPC, which is a registered charity in the UK (#1131122); NPC also has offices in Colombia and Argentina. NPC Peru reports on its activities internally to the UK office and submits its accounting to the Peruvian government.
NPC Peru’s major activities in the past three years have been land-protection initiatives with local communities, scientific investigation and monitoring of biodiversity, and environmental education.
Conservation Plans
Peroles is titled land belonging to the Yambrasbamba Campesino Community. According to Peruvian law, land situated within the Campesino communities can only be sold to community members or the community itself, therefore the land purchase will be in the name of the community but with a contract between NPC Peru and the community stating that “the purchased land will be registered as a Private Conservation Area co-managed by NPC Peru.”
TiME’s land purchase and a previous land purchase are adjacent, and the monkeys and other species move freely between them. Until now, so have researchers, students and volunteers, following the monkeys and other species. The site has been available for research and tourism for 15 years, but insecurity over land ownership has limited its capacity.
After a hiatus due to the pandemic, NPC Peru plans to begin its own research again around the middle of 2023, and will put calls out to universities and professors it has previously worked with. Attracting international students will hopefully make the area economically sustainable, providing income for local people employed as guards and guides, etc. Also, since the end of the pandemic, the site has been visited by three tourist groups, and there is at least one specialist “monkey-watching” agency that includes the site on its itinerary.
