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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.