Glacier

A high altitude tropical glacier from the Cordillera Vilcanota.

Mountain Frog

A marbled four eyed frog (Pleurodema marmoratum), one of the two highest dwelling frog species in the world. It lives up to 5400 m asl in the Andes of Southern Peru.

Vicuna Gallop

A family of Vicuna traverses the steep slope of a mountainside in the Cordillera Vilcanota.

Bofedale

A 'bofedale' or high altitude peat bog of the Andes. These fragile ecosystems harbor sensitive and unique species but as glaciers melt and vanish the bogs are in danger of drying out.

Andean Lizard

A lizard (Liolaemus sp) living on top of the world. At almost 5500 m asl the air is thin, the temperature is freezing, and conditions are harsh. Yet this lizard flourishes in such conditions.

Fieldwork

A pair of biologists gather environmental data at a high altitude wetland in the Andes.

Campsite

Biologist's campsite high in the Andes mountains. In the remote wilderness of the Cordillera Vilcanota there is no choice but to camp. Especially at this high altitude where there are no permanent settlements, humans are just transient visitors to these locations.

Twilight lake

A lake in the Andes at dusk after the sun set and the landscape is bathed in blue light before darkness falls.

The team of biologists investigating the Andean frogs plan for the day and discuss options.

Bricks made from the soil are left to dry and harden. These are the primary building materials in the high Andes in remote communities that cannot use modern means of construction and also live far above the tree line.

A campsite high in the Andes not far from the edge of a receding glacier. As the glacier melts and recedes frogs living below it colonize higher and higher into the mountains.

A wet inter Andean valley, historically these provided refuges for the 3 highest living frog species of the Andes but in recent decades many of the frogs have vanished and some of these valleys no longer contain frogs.

A vicuna stands in a blizzard in the High Andes. The largest native species of mammal in the Cordillera Vilcanota.

Andean flicker (Colaptes rupicola), a large woodpecker that inhabits the Andean Puna. It is one of few woodpecker species that spends most of its time on the ground, it has little choice as no trees grow so high in the mountains.

A wet inter Andean valley, historically these provided refuges for the 3 highest living frog species of the Andes but in recent decades many of the frogs have vanished and some of these valleys no longer contain frogs.

The marbled water frog (Telmatobius marmoratus) is one of the two highest elevation frogs in the world, both of which occur in the Cordillera Vilcanota. A threatened species declining from harvesting by humans, destruction of their habitat, introduction of invasive trout, and the chytrid disease.

Vicuna, the wild relatives of domestic llamas and alpacas, roam free over the puna grassland in the high Andes.

The skins of alpacas dry in the sun in a small Quechua community in the Andes. Llamas and alpacas are the main source of protein in many of these communities.

Andean goose (Neochen melanoptera) a goose of the high Andes. While often seen near water this is a goose that almost never swims unless escaping threats, preferring instead to walk over the puna foraging for food.

A herd of Vicuna stand at the top of on of the peaks in Cordillera Vilcanota.

An undescribed species of tarantula from the high Andes, the Cordillera Vilcanota contains a surprising diversity of high elevation tarantula species including the highest known species.

A Liolaemus lizard basks on a stone in the Andes. These lizards are well adapted to the high elevations, feeding mostly on vegetation, giving birth to several live young at a time and sheltering beneath boulders at night and other times of cold temperatures.

An interesting view of the differences in water quality of the Cordillera Vilcanota. All the water is coming from melting glaciers but there is a clear difference in sediment load.

The warty toad (Rhinella spinulosa) is the amphibian with the widest elevational range in the world, found from sea level to about 5200 m asl. At the high points of its range, there are no people and little light pollution or atmosphere to obscure the stars. The Inca people named a constellation Hanp'atu after this toad.