Nov. 10--Peru has a new, 3.3-million-acre national park in the Amazonian rain forest, thanks to an international effort in which Field Museum scientists played a key role, museum officials said Tuesday.
The park, announced Sunday, centers on the Sierra del Divisor mountain range, rising from the Amazonian plain. Field scientists hoping to prove the value of the territory conducted a rapid inventory of plant and animal life there in 2005 that led to the discovery of more than 20 new species, according to a museum news release. The museum has been among a wide-ranging group of organizations advocating for the park since then.
