Scientists estimate that if measures are not taken to protect it, in 10 years’ time the shihuahuaco may go extinct.In 2018, around 4,000 cubic meters (141,000 cubic feet) of shihuahuaco timber was illegally extracted.The loss of the tree, one of the tallest in this part of the Amazon, would have a severe ripple effect on the species that live in and around it, including the increasingly rare harpy eagle, the biggest raptor in the jungle. MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — On the shores of Las Piedras River, in the small port of Sabaluyoc in southeastern Peru’s Madre de Dios region, a group of loggers has just unloaded some timber. The sky is overcast with black clouds and a storm is about to be unleashed. They’ll have to wait until the rain has passed before departing along the earth and mud track that connects this area to the Interoceanic Highway, linking this part of the country with Brazil. One of the biggest threats to the Amazon is the illegal felling of trees that are more than 500 years old. And over the last few years, the shihuahuaco (Dipteryx sp.) has become one of the most threatened of these slow-growth trees. An imposing tree, it grows slowly over the course of 700 years to heights of 50 meters (164 feet) and a trunk diameter of 1 meter (3.3 feet). Some researchers say that if the logging pressure on this tree continues, the shihuahuaco could go extinct soon. That puts the shihuahuaco in the company of mahogany and cedar, among other trees pushed to the brink of extinction by human demand for timber.