Not all Andean treasures are golden

In the wake of the Second Peruvian Mammal Congress in the southern city of Arequipa, Bruce Patterson of Field Museum joined colleagues from the laboratory of Dr Horacio Zeballos, Universidad de San Agustín, for a short field trip to a special coastal vegetative formation known as lomas. In the midst of the world's driest desert, the Atacama, fog condenses on the slopes of the Andes 1000-3000 feet above sea level, creating isolated patches of vegetation. These are oases of animal and plant life and support curious creatures found nowhere else.