Thank you @andesamazonfund !! I just saw one of these by the boat the other night but didn’t have my camera. This is what I saw. So had to repost because these are such stunning creatures 🔥🐻 🔥. Happy Thursday from this sweet little #Kinkajou, otherwise known as a “honey bear”. This tropical rainforest mammal relies heavily on its tail for movement (look at the size of it!) and enjoys raiding bees’ nests for honey 🍯. They’ve been spotted at some of the conservation areas we’ve supported, but are quite difficult to watch because of their nocturnal nature.

Every child is born a naturalist. If you parent a young child, you will notice how at an early age they hold objects up to you for you to name and identify – even before they can speak in sentences. Object recognition and naming is a need that arises from deep in our genome. For millions of years, when we lived on the land daily, we confronted species that could feed us or poison us, clothe us or consume us. Those evolutionary forces were a big part of selecting the human brain to be capable of pattern recognition with massive memory storage that is informed by our excellent color vision, sense of smell, taste, touch, and hearing. Being a good naturalist was an essential part of becoming human.

Walking along the riverbanks under the brilliant Amazonian sky — night jars and caiman and Jaguar tracks. More from my adventures with @daxdasilva coming soon ✨ @ageofunion @junglekeepers

You can read minds?! *Best caption wins 🤘

Pico changed the course of my life. When I came to the Amazon and began going on long expeditions with JJ and learning the forest, Pico was the one always keeping us safe. He drove the boat on almost every one of the long expeditions we went on. He was always the one scowling at the horizon, reading the river, and making sure we don't run aground or worse. And over the years Pico became one of my closest friends. Our adventures together became the stories I tell in my first book 'Mother of God'.

Victor Update! For those who don't know in October/November we did a fundraiser right here on @instagram with the help of @gofundme and raised money to fix Victor's leg. Victor used to be a logger, and now is a crucial part of our conservation team. But for years his leg had been locked and immobal and painful. He thought that he'd never walk again. But after so many of you threw in Dollars, Soles, Rupees and Pounds and more — we got enough to fly him to Lima get him the specialist surgery he needed and now it feels like we watched a miracle. Last week we went exploring and for the first time in YEARS Victor hiked all day. He still is rehabbing and has a bit of a limp, but that's only to be expected after major surgery. But the important part is that he's on the mend, STOKED on life, and WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!

Verified @discoverearth Nature’s magic 🌳 This tower & tree duo has such a cool story – while the tower was built in 1838, the tree was accidentally pulled on top by a bird…which means that as the years pass, the tree will continue to get bigger as the tower grows older.

One of the most important players in the jungle. Peccary eat roots, grubs, plants, nuts, snakes, and honestly whatever else they can find. They also disperse a variety of seeds in their droppings and so are a keystone engineer of their environment. They are also an important food source for animals like jaguars and anacondas. For me they have always been so exciting to watch, because when a large herd is moving through the jungle, it’s like a grunting flood of activity

Close up on one of the 1400+ species of butterflies that highlight the Las Piedras 🦋

One of the most colorful of the many parrots, macaws, parakeets and parrotlets found on Las Piedras. This is the Painted Parakeet. #worldparrotday

One of the true giants of the forest, the kapok tree. Did you know that we have very little accurate information on the age of these trees? They are SO big that coring tools struggle to get in and also because the trees in the tropics have less defined rings, counting even a cut tree can be nearly impossible. So we just have to marvel and wonder... how old do you think this giant is?

Sunset over the Amazon — everything you see in this photo is protected. And for that we thank you 🙏