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Federico Rios
For more than 40 years, this remote forest in Colombia was kept inaccessible to the outside world by a small group of armed guerrillas. In 2017, the forest was reopened after a peace deal was signed.
The scientists hope the region can be studied, and ultimately protected, before threats like mining and logging encroach.
Ornithologist Maria Isabel Castaño works at a makeshift bird station in the middle of the forest.
A 'Machaeropterus regulus' or striped manakin (left), and a 'Ceratopipra erythrocephala', also known as golden headed manakin, rest upon a researcher's hand.
Scientists use traps like these to catch the butterflies for study.
Carolina Velez, an entomologist on the expedition, examines a brilliant blue morpho butterfly known as 'Morpho helenor peleides'.
Scientists caught this cricket in the 'Tettigoniidae' family in the act of molting.
A 'Bothrops punctatus', or spotted lancehead, is a venomous pitviper.
Scientists photograph a 'Xenodon rabdocephalus', or 'false fer-de-lance', a venomous, rear-fanged snake.
Juan Camilo Arredondo, a herpetologist on the expedition, examines a tiny frog that he believes is in the family Centrolenidae, but which requires more research.