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Peru Facts

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Fun Facts. In 2013, Peru was the biggest producer of cocaine, the cocaine industry in Peru employs about 200,000 Peruvians. In addition to cocaine, Peru is the sixth-largest producer of gold. Peru has over 55 different varieties of corn and the potato was originally from Peru with over 3,000 different varieties. A traditional Peruvians dish Cuy with about 65 million consumed annually. There are 3,500 types of orchids with only about 50% having been identified. Chicama and Pacasmayo in Peru both claim the world’s longest rideable wave at 1.5 miles. Peru also has the highest sand dune in the world, Cerro Blanco, measuring 3,860 feet from base to summit. Peru is also home to the Nazca Lines, more than 70 giant geoglyphs and one of the world’s …show more content…

Peru has over 1,800 species of birds, over 500 species of mammals and over 300 species of reptiles. The mammals include about 70 endemic and 109 threatened or endangered, such as the rare puma, jaguar, Andean bear, yellow tailed wooly monkey and river dolphins. Additional Peruvian mammals include the two-toed sloth, armadillos, lemurs and a wide variety of bats. New species of birds are still being discovered. Peru’s national bird is the Andean cock-of-the-rock. A few other birds in Peru are long-whiskered owlets, rheas, Humboldt penguins, various boobies, vultures, osprey, hoatzin, parrots, macaws, potoos and the Andean condor, with a wingspan of 10 feet 6 inches, Albatross also exceeds the condor’s magnificent wingspan with an even larger wingspan of 11 feet 6 inches. Of the 300 species of reptiles about 100 are endemic, including giant anacondas, caimans, and many varieties of frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, and lizards. …show more content…

One previously isolated Amazon Indians tribe, the Mashco-Piro Indians, are beginning to reach out to Peruvians and visiting tourists for food, clothing, machetes and cooking pots. Peru is concerned with this outreach and thinks it may be related to ever approaching loggers, low flying aircraft and from natural resource exploration in the country. Typically the Mashco-Piro Indians are an indigenous tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers who inhabit the remote area of the Amazon rainforest, Manu National Park who have, up until recently, avoided outside attention from non-native people and kept to

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