Coffee growers in Bolivia recently chanced upon an incredibly elusive animal on their farm: the rarely seen Amazon weasel. This is the first time this species has been reported in Bolivia, researchers write in a new study.
“What a brilliant discovery,” Kristofer M. Helgen, chief scientist and director of the Australian Museum Research Institute, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Mongabay. “This really brings home to me how much there still is to learn about South American species, even mammalian carnivores, which we usually think of as quite well-studied animals.”
Researchers have previously noted that the Amazon weasel (Neogale africana) is distributed throughout the Amazon Basin, in countries like Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. They’ve also hinted at the weasel’s presence in Bolivia.
But no individuals had ever been recorded there — until Eyner Quispe, a coffee grower, filmed one in October 2023.
Quispe and his family work on a coffee farm in the community of Unión Cordillera, near Madidi National Park in Bolivia. The farm is certified bird-friendly, meaning it’s committed to growing coffee without harming birds and wildlife.
It was on his farm that Quispe noticed an unusual animal hunting a mouse, said study co-author Jorge Rojas, Bolivia agroforestry lead at the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Quispe took photos and videos of the animal and shared them on social media in the hope that someone could help identify the species.
In the videos, the “diagnostic traits” of the Amazon weasel are quite evident, the researchers write, including a glossy chestnut-brown back, yellowish throat and belly, and a dark-brown stripe running from the middle of the throat to the belly. The researchers also compared the images to museum specimens and confirmed the animal was indeed the Amazon weasel.
Historically, there have only been 23 reported sightings of this species, but none were supported with photos or videos, Rojas said. Also, all the previous records were from Brazil, Peru and Ecuador, so the video from Bolivia is the first of its kind in many ways.
“It’s great to have an actual video of this almost-mythical Amazonian weasel,” Robert S. Voss, curator in the Department of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History, told Mongabay.
“There were suggestions of the presence of the species in the Amazon of Bolivia but not confirmed. Now the evidence is strong,” added Héctor Ramírez-Chaves, a mammologist at the University of Caldas in Colombia. “The finding is very relevant considering that the Amazon weasel was a long-lost species. It is also one of the rarest carnivores in the Neotropics.”
Neither Voss nor Ramírez-Chaves were involved in the study.
This new record of the Amazon weasel comes from coffee growers who understand the importance of coexisting with wildlife, Rojas said. “Their experience in coffee production under environmentally friendly systems and their understanding of the ‘bird friendly’ certification demonstrate their commitment to respecting the environment in which they operate,” he added.
Video of Amazon weasel by Eyner Eugenio Quispe/APCERL.
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