What twenty years of research at Kodkod has taught us about forests, birds, and the life inside decaying wood Introduction The Andean temperate forests of southern Chile constitute one of 35 recognised global biodiversity hotspots, characterised by high levels of endemism and an exceptionally cavity-dependent vertebrate community (Myers et al. 2000). A sustained programme of research centred on the Pucón region of the Araucanía — carried out principally by Tomás Altamirano, J

Research by Fernanda Barz Cabezas, Universidad de Chile, 2024 In the Andean temperate forests of Araucanía, one of the world's most ancient and unusual mammals goes about its nightly business largely unseen. The monito del monte — literally "little mountain monkey" — is a small marsupial no bigger than a mouse, with a prehensile tail and opposable thumbs that let it move through the forest canopy with remarkable agility. It is the sole surviving member of an ancient lineage t

Based on a structural and historical study of the Kodkod Field Studies Center, 2025, by Ignacio Urrea, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. What this study set out to do This report reconstructs the history of the forest at the Kodkod Field Studies Center in Pichares, near Pucón, and describes its current ecological condition. The researchers used three approaches: historical documents and local interviews, tree ring analysis, and detailed field measurements of forest st

Where is Llancalil and why does it matter? The Llancalil valley sits high in the Andes foothills of the Araucanía region, between 1,000 and 1,350 metres above sea level. Six adjoining properties were fused 30 years ago, and together cover around 430 hectares of native temperate forest. Water from this valley drains into the Liucura River and eventually reaches the Pacific Ocean via the Toltén river system — which means what happens here affects ecosystems and communities far

Walk through the forest of Llancalil after dark, and you are never truly alone. A culpeo fox picks its way along a stream bank. Somewhere in the undergrowth, a kodkod — one of the world's smallest and most elusive wildcats — moves silently between the trees. And crashing through the undergrowth further up the slope, a wild boar snuffles through the leaf litter in search of roots and tubers. These animals share the same landscape. But how do they manage to do so without consta

Research by Esther Padrós García, Kodkod Field Studies Center, 2026 A puma kills a sheep on a farm near Pucón. An American mink raids a henhouse. A neighbour's dog goes after the same flock. In each case, an animal has caused real damage — but the human response to each incident is strikingly different. The puma is tolerated. The mink is despised. And the dog? The dog represents something else entirely: a breakdown of trust between neighbours. Why do people respond so differe

¿QUÉ ES KODKOD? Kodkod es un centro de estudios de campo ubicado en el bosque templado lluvioso del sur de Chile, diseñado para facilitar el desarrollo de investigaciones en ecología, conservación y biodiversidad. Funciona como una plataforma que conecta investigadores, estudiantes y proyectos en torno a un sistema ecológico activo, donde es posible generar conocimiento a partir de la observación directa, monitoreo y experimentación en terreno. El centro se inserta en un pais

Presentamos los resultados de un proceso participativo para identificar formas de mejorar la experiencia turística.. El "Lab de...

Vanessa Coldwell, Imperial College, UK. Antes de poder responder preguntas sobre dónde vive la güiña, cómo se mueve o de qué se alimenta, hay una pregunta más fundamental que resolver: ¿cómo se detecta un animal que casi nunca se deja ver? En estos bosques, esta pregunta no es trivial. Las pendientes empinadas, la vegetación densa, las lluvias persistentes y los inviernos con nieve hacen que el monitoreo sistemático de mamíferos sea un desafío logístico y económico considerab

Land use intensification, by which habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and increased land ownership subdivision occurs, represents one of...

Los carnívoros enfrentan importantes amenazas antropogénicas en áreas agrícolas, amenazas provenientes de la pérdida y fragmentación de...

La subdivisión de tierra en zonas agrícolas podría provocar en el largo plazo la desaparición de carnívoros silvestres medianos, como...

Entre los cerros boscosos de Pucon se ha formado un núcleo importante de iniciativas turísticas que buscan crear experiencias para los...

Desde 2006, un grupo de científicos chilenos ha estado enseñando a las nuevas generaciones de profesionales de la conservación de la...

Es cada vez más evidente que la calidad de vida humana y la calidad de vida para el resto del mundo vivo están íntimamente entrelazados....

Following research and training opportunities supported by a Darwin project in 2006-2009, a group of Chilean scientists are teaching new generations of biodiversity conservation professionals in the southern temperate rainforest. DI project 15_006 set out to establish local biodiversity research with practical forest conservation activities that would improve knowledge and local capacity to protect Chilean native forests and the unique wildlife they contain. In those early