Animals of Peru-Mammals
Peru has a diverse geography, from the Pacific Ocean bordering the long desert coast to the Andean mountains and the rainforest. Because of this wide geographical range and different altitudes and climates, animals have adapted and survived in this environment.
Peru is home to more than 500 species of mammals, of which 70 are endemic and close to 100 are threatened, vulnerable or endangered.
The following is a list of mammals found in the Peruvian territory but not exclusively.
Mammal | Scientific Name | Description | IUCN Status: |
---|---|---|---|
Anderson's Mouse Opossum | Marmosa andersoni | Nocturnal and inhabits moist areas of forest in the eastern slopes of the Andes. | Critically Endangered |
Bishop's Slender Mouse Opossum | Marmosa bishopi | Small, arboreal marsupial opossum native to Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia | |
White-eared Opossum - | Didelphis albiventris | Terrestrial and arboreal animal. | |
Emilia's Short-tailed Opossum | Monodelphis emiliae | Vulnerable | |
Giant Armadillo | Priodones maximus | Largest living species of armadillo. | Endangered, vulnerable to extinction. |
Nine-banded Armadillo - | Dasypus novemcinctus | It the most widespread of the armadillos | |
Hairy Long-nosed Armadillo | Dasypus pilosus | Endemic to Peru. Its habitat are subtropical or tropical lowland forests and montanes. | Vulnerable |
Giant Anteater | Myrmecophaga tridactyla | The largest species of anteater. | Vulnerable |
Southern Tamandua or Lesser Anteater | Tamandua tetradactyla | It is a solitary animal found in grasslands, deciduous forests and rainforests. | |
Silky Anteater | Cyclopes didactylus | It is the smallest member of the anteaters | |
Southern or Linnaeus's two-toed sloth | Choloepus didactylus | It is a solitary, nocturnal and arboreal animal, found in rainforests. | |
Pygmy Marmoset or Dwarf Monkey | Cebuella pygmaea | One of the world's smallest primates | |
Goeldi's Marmoset or Goeldi's Monkey | Callimico goeldi | It lives in the upper Amazon Basin | Vulnerable |
Mantled Howler Monkey | Alouatta palliata | One of the largest Amazonian new world monkeys | |
Red Howler Monkey | Alouatta seniculus | These New world monkeys are native to South and Central American forests. | |
Black-headed Night Monkey | Aotus nigriceps | New world monkey found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. | |
Spix's Night (Owl) Monkey | Aotus vociferans | They are the only truly nocturnal n ew world monkeys. | |
Andean Night Monkey | Aotus miconax | Endemic to Peru | Vulnerable |
Dusky Titi Monkey | Callicebus moloch | New world monkey that lives in monogamous pairs and babies are carried by the male. | |
Yellow-handed Titi Monkey | Callicebus lucifer | New world monkey found in east of the Andes of western Amazon Basin | |
Andean Titi Monkey | Callicebus oenanthe | This species of new world monkey is endemic of Peru and only found in the upper Rio Mayo valley in the department of San Martin. | Vulnerable |
Common Squirrel Monkey | Samiri sciureus | It is found primarily in the Amazon Basin. All squirrel monkeys are diurnal and arboreal. | |
Black-capped Squirrel Monkey | Saimiri boliviensis | It is a South American squirrel monkey, found in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. | |
Brown Capuchin Monkey | Cebus apella | Their habitat includes Central America and South America as far south as northern Argentina. | Vulnerable |
White-Fronted Capuchin Monkey- | Cebus albifrons | This primate is a medium-sized monkey with a light brown back and a creamy white underside | Vulnerable |
Common Woolly Monkey | Lagothrix lagotricha | It lives in groups of 2 to 70 individuals | |
Gray Woolly Monkey | Lagothrix cana | They are frugivorous, feeding mainly on fruit. | Vulnerable |
Silvery Woolly Monkey | Lagothrix poeppigii | It is found in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru. | Vulnerable |
Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey - | Oreonax flavicauda | Endemic to Peru. It is a rare primate species found only in the Peruvian Andes, in the departments of Amazonas and San Martin as well as bordering areas | Critically Endangered |
Peruvian Spider Monkey - | Ateles chamek | Subspecies of black spider monkey that lives not only in Peru, but also in Brazil and Bolivia. | |
White-bellied Spider Monkey - | Ateles belzebuth | These monkeys are known to inhabit tropical and sub-tropical lowland and piedmont areas in Brasil, Colombia, Equador and Peru. | Vulnerable |
Rio Tapajós Saki | Pithecia irrorata | It is a species of saki monkey, a type of New World monkey, from South America. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. | |
Monk Saki | Pithecia monhachus | It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It can grow up to be 3748 cm long and weigh about 1.5-3 kilograms, approximately the same as a large rabbit. | |
Red Uakari | Cacajao calvus | is a medium-sized monkey weighing about 4 kg (9 lb) | Near Threatened (IUCN 2004) |
Sechuran Fox (Zorro) | Pseudalopex sechurae | The population is estimated to number fewer than 15,000 mature individuals | Near Threatened |
Culpeo (Andean Fox) | Pseudalopex culpaeus | The Culpeo is distributed from the Andes and hilly regions of South America, ranging down to the Pacific shoreline in the desert of northern Chile. | |
Bush Dog | Speothos venaticus | The population is estimated to number fewer than 15,000 mature individuals, | Vulnerable |
Short-eared Dog | Atelocynus microtis | They favour undisturbed rainforest in the Amazonian lowlands. | Declining |
Maned Wolf | Chrysocyon brachyurus | It is the largest canid of South America, resembling a large fox with reddish fur. | near threatened |
Jaguar | Felis onca | A large spotted feline of tropical America | |
Puma | Felis concolor | Also known as the southern South American puma | |
Jaguarundi | Felis yagouaroundi | The jaguarundi is found from southern Texas and coastal Mexico in the north, through central and south America east of the Andes, and as far south as northern Argentina. | |
Margay | Leopardus wiedii | Very little is known of the margays status and abundance across its range. The Amazon Basin is its stronghold. | |
Ocelot | Leopardus pardalis | The ocelot is the best known small cat of the Americas, as far as the public is concerned, largely because of the beauty of its coat. | |
Andean cat | Oreailurus jacobita | It is a small wild cat. It is one of only two felids for which no subspecies have been classically described. There are none in captivity. | Endangered |
Pampas Cat | Oncifelis colocolo | It is a small wild cats that makes its home in the South American countries of Ecuador, Brazil, Chile and Argentina | |
Greater Grison | Galictis vittata | It belongs to the ferret family Mustelidaeusually seen near rivers and streams. | |
South American Coatimundi | Nasua nasua | This species is an occupant of forested habitat. | |
Kinkajou | Potos flavus | It is also known as the honey bear and lives in the rain forest. | |
Olingo | Bassaricyon gabbii | Typically found from Nicaragua to Bolivia, where it is locally abundant and it is sparsely distributed in the western Amazon basin. | |
Tayra | Eira barbara | The tayra is a weasel about the size of a medium sized dog. | |
Long-tailed Weasel | Mustela frenata | The long-tailed weasel lives in a wide-variety of habitats including woodlands, thickets, open areas and farmland. It usually lives near a water source. | |
Tropical Weasel | Mulstela africana | Despite its scientific name, it is not found in Africa. It lives in the Amazon Rainforest in South America. | |
Neotropical Otter | Lontra longicaudis | Its habitat includes warm and cool climate rainforests, and coastal savanna swamps. | endangered species |
Giant Otter | Pteronura brasiliensis | It is the longest member of the Mustelidae, or weasel family,found in the lakes, rivers, creeks and swamps of South America. | endangered species |
Striped Hog-nosed Skunk | Conepatus semistriatus | It lives in a wide range of habitats including dry forest scrub and occasionally, in rainforest. | |
Spectacled Bear | Tremarctos ornatus | It is also known as the Andean Bear and are the only surviving species of bear native to South America. | Vulnerable |
Pink River Dolphin or Boto | Inia geoffrensis | It is a freshwater river dolphin endemic to the Orinoco and the Amazon Rivers. | Vulnerable |
Grey River Dolphin | Sotalia fluviatilis | It is a fresh water dolphin found in the rivers of the Amazon Basin. | |
North Amazon Red Squirrel | Sciurus igniventris | This species inhabits the lowland forests of the Amazon. | |
South Amazon Red Squirrel | Sciurus spadiceus | Squirrel species from South America. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. | |
Bolivian Squirrel | Sciurus ignitus | Tree squirrel species endemic to South America. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Peru up to 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) in the Andes region. | |
Paca | Agouti paca | Pacas primarily live in tropical rainforests but are also found in a wide variety of forest habitats, including mangrove swamps, deciduous and semi-deciduous forest, dense upland scrub, and narrow growth along river banks. | |
Northern Viscacha | Lagidium peruanum | Their habitat are found in Chile and Peru, at elevations from 300 to 5000 m. | |
Mountain paca | Agouti taczanowskii | Small burrow-dwelling rodent whose habitats are high altitude South American forests. | |
Brown Agouti | Dasyprocta variegata | Rodent scavenger that lives on the ground of dense rain forests. This small-eared animal feeds on fruits, leaves, and roots. | |
Kalinowski Agouti | Dasyprocta kalinowskii | Rodent in the Dasyproctidae family. It is endemic to Peru. It is threatened by habitat loss. | |
Pacarana | Dinomys branickii | Rare and slow-moving nocturnal rodent found only in tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains | Endangered |
Capybara | Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris | Largest living rodent in the world. | |
Southern Viscacha | Lagidium viscacia | Rodent in the Chinchillidae family. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. | |
Northern Viscacha | Lagidium peruanum | Rodent in the family Chinchillidae.[2] It is known from Chile and Peru, at elevations from 300 to 5000 m, and may also be present in Bolivia | |
Short-tailed Chinchilla | Chinchilla brevicaudata | Their original range included the Andes Mountains of Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. The rodents were exploited for their luxurious fur, causing their numbers to dwindle greatly. | Critical |
Amazon Bamboo-Rat | Dactylomys dactylinus | Rodent found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. | |
Yellow-crowned Brush Rat | Isothrix bistriata | They are nocturnal and arboreal animals found in lowland evergreen rainforest | |
Bare-tailed Tree Rat | Makalata occasius | rodent in the Echimyidae family. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. | Critically endangered |
Mountain tapir | Tapirus pinchaque | It is the smallest of the four species of tapir and is the only one to live outside of tropical rainforests in the wild. | Endangered |
Lowland tapir | Tapirus terrestris | It is the second largest land mammal in South America, after Baird's Tapir. | |
Collared Peccary | Tayassu tajacu | In South and Central America, the Collared Peccary inhabits tropical rainforests. | |
White-lipped Peccary - | Tayassu pecari | They are distributed from southern Mexico south to Ecuador, and from the Entre Rios in Argentina to the Pacific coast of South America | |
Vicuña - | Vicugna vicugna | It is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. | |
Guanaco - | Lama guanicoe | Camelid native to South America | |
Marsh Deer | Blastocerus dichotomus | It is the largest South American deer, its habitat ranges from savanna patches along the southern margins of Amazonian Peru and Brazil south through northeastern Argentina. | Vulnerable |
White-tailed Deer | Odocoileus virginianus | Medium-sized deer native to the United States (all but five of the states), Canada, Mexico, Central America, and in South America as far south as Peru | |
Red Brocket Deer | Mazama americana | is a species of brocket deer from forests in South America | |
Dwarf Brocket | Mazama chunyi | It is a species of even-toed ungulate in the Cervidae family. It is found in Bolivia and Peru. | |
Red Dwarf Brocket | Mazama rufina | Small, little-studied deer native to the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru | |
North Andean Deer - | Hippocamelus antisensis | the deer family. It comprises two endangered Andean species, commonly known as Huemul (from Mapudungun), and Taruca. | Declining |
Amazon Manatee | Trichechus inunguis | The Amazonian manatee ranges throughout the Amazon River Basin of northern South America. | Vulnerable |
Related information
Amazon River Ecosystem and Biodiversity
The Amazon river is home to many species of animals and many of them are in danger of extinction. One of the most endangered species in the Amazon River is the pink dolphin or bufeo thought to be extinct more than twenty years ago.
Facts about Peru’s biodiversity and environment
Interesting facts and statistics regarding Peru’s megadiversity.
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