As fires burn through the Amazon rainforest in Bolivia, among other places, millions of animals are thought to have died after failing to make an escape.
Scientists told AFP that more than 2.3 million animals may have died in the flames racing through the protected forest areas in the region, as well as grasslands like the the tropical savannas of the Chiquitania region.
Bolivia has seen close to 34,000 fires this year, 75 percent higher than by the same time last year, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. And they say it's mainly due to farmings clearing land in the forest to set up farmland for crops, as well as the recent extended periods of drought courtesy of climate change
"From my understanding, this emergency is the biggest ever in Bolivia," Sergio Vasquez, a disaster response manager at World Animal Protection, told Earther.
Though Bolivia's inferno situation is about as bad as Brazil's, the latter has received more worldwide attention. Wildlife in both countries are in danger, but we have a better idea of just how bad things are in Bolivia.
According to Vasquez, the bigger animals have a better chance of escape, given they can move faster and make leaps. They're not completely safe though. Apparently something like 500 jaguars are believed dead in Brazil and Bolivia, or have been ousted from their homes. And this is a species already threatened by habitat loss and poaching.
The other 1.8 million animals that have likely perished include frogs, anteaters, and ocelots, as well as slower and smaller creatures like sloths, armadillos, insects, and reptiles. Some may be able to burrow underground, but they may not be very safe there either, and even then their food source will have been burned out for miles.