Bahuaja Sonene National Park, located in the southeast Amazon region of Peru, protects one of the few regions in Amazonia that is virtually free of intensive human intervention. It includes areas where extremely high levels of biological diversity have been reported, some at record level.
The park protects a great variety of plants, birds, mammals, herptiles, insects, and fish, including many rare and endangered forms. Many species found within the confines of the park are endemic to Peru, among them two species of parrots and at least 28 newly registered butterflies.
Notable fauna include marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus), maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), anaconda (Eunectes murinus), giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), giant river otter (Pteroneura brasiliensis), jaguar (Panthera onca), and a variety of species of monkeys. In 1992, an icthyological research team discovered 93 species of fish within six different bodies of water, just within the lower pampas region of the park. Prominent conservation targets include the above species as well as the pampas region of the park and selected upland micro-watersheds.
The park also protects a number of upland and lowland native fruits, wild varieties of the domestic pineapple and guayaba, and vegetation and rodent communities, on which the marsh deer, maned wolf, monkeys, and other mammals and birds depend.
