10 EXOTIC ANIMALS OF PERU AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - BIOLOGY - 2025

The exotic animals of Peru are part of the enormous biodiversity that the eleven different biomes that the South American country boasts. These species include the pink dolphin, the bearded dragon or the giant armadillo.

An animal can be considered exotic when their place of origin is the tropics, or when they are rare animals, with few living individuals. It is common for a list of endangered animals to include many of these animals, because they are also highly valued in the illegal trafficking market.

Andean condor

Another characteristic of exotic animals is that they often pose a risk of zoonosis for humans. That is, they can transmit diseases to humans.

In recent years it has been decided to breed them in captivity to domesticate them and prevent them from being predated or altering an ecosystem, because many are invasive species.

However, raising an exotic animal can also be a challenge, since they have very particular customs and needs (food or hygiene).

Featured exotic animals of Peru

1- Scarlet Macaw

The scarlet macaw is a bird of beautiful and striking colors, with a very strong beak, which is distributed from the north of Central America to the south of the Amazon.

Usually nests in pairs in the aguaje, a kind of palm tree. Its presence in a space indicates the good health of the surrounding trees.

It is a monogamous bird and a pair lays between 1 and 4 eggs per year, although normally no more than two young survive. It feeds on clay and seeds. She handles her food with her left paw and holds herself with her right paw.

A curious fact about this animal is that when stressed it plucks its feathers.

This animal has become one of the symbols of the Peruvian Amazon. Its commercialization is prohibited by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

2- Huapo colorado

It is a monkey with a peeled and reddish face, which is also known as a red uacarí.

This animal lives in the trees of swampy areas. It has thick brown fur. Their diet is based on fruits, seeds, and insects.

It is usually located in the Amazon plain, north and south of the Amazon River, and in the Putumayo and Napo river basins.

Its population has diminished as a result of hunting and the decrease of its habitable territory. It is also included in CITES and is a species protected by Peruvian legislation.

3- Pink dolphin

It is a river dolphin with gray skin that turns pink over time, until it reaches an intense pink in adulthood.

The male, when he becomes an adult, can be 2.55 meters long and weigh 185 kilograms.

Its natural habitat is the Amazon River and its tributaries. Hunting and pollution have reduced their numbers by 50%.

4- Bearded dragon

The bearded dragon, or pogona vitticeps, is a lizard with a large, triangular head surrounded by spiny scales that also adorn the rest of its body.

The males, which are usually larger than the females, reach 60 centimeters in length and up to 450 grams in weight.

They can be green, brown, gray, reddish, or orange. In fact, its color can be an indicator of your mood.

Color can also be an indicator that you feel threatened. When this is the case, it raises its scales and they turn black.

The bearded dragon is omnivorous and likes to drink the dew of the field. Its habitat is on land and in dry forests, where humidity is less than 50%.

5- Yellow-tailed woolly monkey

It is a medium-sized monkey with a tail that can reach 63 centimeters in length (it is longer than its own body), with a band of yellow hairs.

The fur of this monkey is copper colored in almost all its body, except for the edge of its mouth, where it is white.

It can be found in the Río Abiseo National Park, in the Colán Cordillera Reserved Zone and in the Alto Mayo Protected Forest.

6- Andean cat

It is a feline slightly larger than a domestic cat.

It is very evasive, so there are not many details about it except that it has a long fur and that it lives in the Andes of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.

7- Giant armadillo (Yungunturu)

This is the largest armadillo species that exists. Its head is small and conical. It has no fur.

It measures approximately 75 centimeters in length, without taking into account the tail that can add up to 50 centimeters more. Their weight is around 60 kilograms when they are raised in captivity, and 20 kilograms in their natural environment.

Despite these dimensions, it has short legs. It also has a dark, flexible shell. Between the large nails on its front legs it has a central claw that it uses for digging.

He is an agile and fast runner, as well as a good swimmer. Its habits are nocturnal.

It feeds on ants, termites, larvae, and other insects. Due to their size, their natural predators are animals as large as the puma and the jaguar.

They are usually found almost throughout South America, especially in tropical jungles or in areas below 500 meters above sea level.

8- Yellow-eared aquatic turtle

It is a freshwater turtle with yellow lines on its tail, legs, and face.

In its adulthood it has a shell of 40 centimeters in length. Its natural environment is slow rivers, lakes, ponds and swamps.

9- Giant Titicaca frog

This large, round-headed frog has smooth skin that looks like a suit that is too big for it.

It lives in Lake Titicaca, which joins the territories of La Paz (Bolivia) and Puno (Peru). Indiscriminate hunting threatens their species.

10- Andean Condor

This bird is one of the largest in the world (almost 3 and a half meters wide in its wings) and the longest too (it lives up to 50 years).

It establishes its nest at 1000 or 5000 meters above sea level, anywhere in the Andes Mountains in South America.

The Andean condor can be recognized by its bald and red head, its black plumage and the “necklace” of white feathers that adorns its neck.

References

1. Arana, Miriam. «Caring for a yellow-eared turtle» (2017) in Animal Expert. Recovered from Animal Expert: expertanimal.com
2. CNN. "Chile busts trade in exotic animals from Peru" (2009) on CNN. Recovered from CNN: edition.cnn.com
3. Carrillo, Jorge. "Exotic animals as household pets" (2013) in La República. Recovered from La República: larepublica.pe
4. La Primera newspaper. "Exotic animals" (2011) in La Primera. Recovered from La Primera: diariolaprimeraperu.com
5. Two Hands (2014). "Interesting details of three exotic animals in Peru" in Dos Manos Peru. Recovered from Dos Manos Peru: dosmanosperu.com
6. Animal expert. «Bearded Dragon» (s / f) in Animal Expert. Recovered from Animal Expert: expertanimal.com
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