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A gold crown that dates back to the Incas is on display at the Museo Larco in Lima, Peru. The Spanish invaded Peru in 1532 to capture such treasures. Now a new gold rush – driven by record-high prices for gold – is igniting violent clashes and threatening the rain forest in this South American country. -
The town square in Puerto Maldonado seems like a pristine oasis. But ringing this square are numerous small gold shops, whose owners use torches to burn off residual mercury from gold before purchasing it from miners. The mercury then goes airborne. Researchers have found dangerously elevated levels of mercury around this town of 90,000 people in southeast Peru. -
A baby caiman prowls the shore of the Tambopata River in southeastern Peru. Researchers fear that caiman and other fish-eating species in this region -- including humans -- are being exposed to high levels of mercury from gold mining operations. -
A pair of capybara, the world's largest rodent, graze along the shore of the Tambopaca River in southeastern Peru. -
A group of giant river otters, an endangered species, emerge from the waters of Cocococha, an oxbow lake in the Tambopata National Park of southeast Peru. Researchers fear these otters, at the top of the food chain in this part of the Amazon, could be harmed by a buildup of mercury in fish. -
A river runs muddy in the Madre de Dios region of southeastern Peru. Scientists say that the bulk of the sediment is coming from gold mining operations, some of which use hydraulic hoses to unearth ore from the river banks. -
A river guide enjoys the moonlight while floating down the Tambopaca River in southeastern Peru after a night of searching for caiman with flashlights. -
A pair of giant river otters, an endangered species, emerge from the waters of Cocococha, an oxbow lake in the Tambopata National Park of southeast Peru. Researchers fear these otters, at the top of the food chain in this part of the Amazon, could be harmed by a buildup of mercury in fish. -
A pair of jungle birds, the speckled chachalaca, sit on branches along the shores of Cocacocha, an oxbow lake in the Tambopaca National Reserve of southeastern Peru. -
A youth group marches through the square in Puerto Maldonado, Peru to demonstrate against drugs and drug running. Drug dealers in the area are thought to launder their money by purchasing gold from illegal gold miners. -
Police officers and miners clash during a protest in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Thousands of illegal gold miners battled police for control of a regional capital in the Amazon basin on Wednesday and at least three people were killed by gunfire. The miners are fighting government efforts to regulate small-scale gold extraction, which is ravaging the rain forest, contaminating it with tons of mercury.
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