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              Close Encounters on the Equator

Endangered animals of Ecuador have a home in Banos. A privately owned zoo is showing its country and the world what can be done in a small country to preserve its wealth of wildlife despite economic and political hardships. Visitors can get up close and personal with some of the most exciting animals on the planet, including huge condors, leopards, tapirs, eagles, cougars and more. Pictured above is a tapir licking a visitor's face.  The docile tapir roams freely around the outdoor zoo.

At left is an image of a rare circumstance captured at Ron Levy's latest trip there--an orphaned monkey became friends with its natural enemy, a rescued eagle (shot in the wing but now able to fly again). They not only played together but the monkey slept beneath the eagle's talons...

The photo/text article was originally published in the Spring 2000 issue of the Australian-based Endangered Species magazine, which closed its publishing operations in 2001.
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