Peru has some of the greatest biodiversity in the world because of the presence of the Andes, Amazon Rainforest, and the Pacific Ocean.

Flora

Peru has a diverse amount of plants. The coast of Peru is usually barren apart from some cactus’s that grow there. The hilly areas known as lomas such as Lachay, get enough mist to sustain plants, shrubs, insects and hummingbirds. The river valleys also contain unique plant life.

The Highlands above the tree-line is known as puna, where bushes, cactus and drought-resistant plants, such as ichu grass extend up to the zone of snow capped mountains.

The most spetacular plant of Peru is the gigantic Puya raimondii seen near Huaraz. On the lower slopes of the Andes are steep-sided cloud-forests with among it can sustain moss, orchids, and bromeliads.

The very wet Amazon Rainforest contains useful lumber, and resins plus strange canopy plants and palm trees.

As of March 2009 Scientists have discovered a new kind of plant Senecio sanmarcosensis which is part of the high-Andean wetlands vegetation. It is only found at 14,764 feet (4,500 m) above sea level.

Fauna

Birds

Peru has over 1,800 species of birds – the second highest number of any country in the world. New species of birds are still being discovered and catalogued by scientists. 42 species have been officially added to science in the last 30 years. In January 2010, scientists have found a new population of five Long-whiskered Owlets Long-whiskered Owlets which are very rare in the wild.

On February 22, 1990 they found a new distinctive species of the Tyrant Flycatcher called twistwing. Which remained undescribed and unidentified until November 2002. Then on September 13, 2003 they obtained the first-natural history of the bird.

The Manu Biosphere Reserve is believed to have the highest concentration of bird species in the world, with 1,000—one out of every nine on the Earth.

Mammals

Peru has over 500 species of mammals, of which about 70 are endemic and about 100 are threatened or endangered. These include spectacular species like the Jaguar and Spectacled Bear and rare endemic species like the Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey.

In January 2007, scientists discovered a new species of cloud-forest rodent called the Spiny Rat (Isothrix barbarabrownae) in Manu.

Reptiles

Peru has around 300 species of reptiles of which around 100 are endemic. Peru’s reptile fauna includes spectacular species like giant anacondas and caimans, as well as many other snakes, lizards and turtles.

Amphibians

There are about 380 species of frogs in Peru (based on this search at the Amphibian Species of the World website). It is easy to see a few species on night hikes in the lowland rain forest areas in Tambopata, Manu or Iquitos.

10 new frog species have been discovered over the past 2 years in the cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes.