Nine ironwood spears protruded from the lifeless body of Luis Castellanos when it was found in March, near a jungle road. Castellanos, 37, was the third poacher of rare woods murdered in this remote patch of eastern Ecuador since 2005. And the prime suspects in the killings, say officials, are the ferocious warriors of the Tagaeri and Taromenani tribes — primitive and virtually unknown groups who cling to their Stone Age lifestyles deep in the Amazon rain ...

Viet Nam is no place for the traditional American rifleman, who prides himself on long-range sharpshooting and an unerringly steady hand. Though infantrymen do get some chances for this, most firefights occur at ranges of 50 ft. or less, in dense jungle that offers only a fleeting glimpse of the enemy. To hit so elusive a target requires "instinct shooting" of the highest order, and last week the U.S. Army was hard at work honing that instinct in its infantry ...

Much of the world was shocked and titillated by news of alleged fat-stealing murderers in the Peruvian jungle. But the story may have a much more sinister underbelly. Could the allegation of homicidal liposuction possibly be a smokescreen to distract attention from other crimes, including, some local journalists say, the existence of a death squad that may be operating within the country's national police? The existence of marauding fat stealers was made public mid-November by General Felix Murga, head ...

There are two important things to know about tracking wild elephants, and it's better to learn both of them before you're actually in the jungle, tracking wild elephants. First, elephants are fast. In thick forest — in this case, the vast Ulu Masen ecosystem in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where leeches writhe beneath your feet and white-handed gibbons hoot from the treetops — they can outpace even deer. Second, elephants can't climb trees. This is good, because that's ...

As we began our journey, I was so nervous I could barely keep my footing. One of the women had made Kool-Aid and measured out enough Valium in it to keep the children calm. As we trekked up the side of the banana field, my heart was beating wildly. Someone is going to see us, I kept thinking. I prayed to God to please get me to the top of the hill, and when I put the other foot down ...

"Always you have to run for your life," says Boo Htoo, who grew up in a refugee camp in Thailand just across the border from Myanmar. Ethnic minorities still flee the repressive military regime in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Some 111,000 Myanmar refugees live in nine camps in Thailand, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Htoo, now 29, recalls making the long trek with his parents to cross the border when he was about 5. "[It's] ...