LEAVE the AMAZON TRIBE ALONE! LASCIAMOLI IN PACE!

Calls to leave 'new' Amazon tribe alone


Members of one of the world's last uncontacted tribes fire arrows at the plane flying over their settlement. (www.survival-international.org: Gleison Miranda/FUNAI)
Related Story: Elusive nomad tribe photographed in Amazon
An Australian-based linguist says the less we know about one of South America's uncontacted indigenous tribes, the better it is for them.
A photographer aboard a helicopter has snapped a picture of the tribe, who shun contact with the outside world, in a remote part of the Amazon on the border between Brazil and Peru.
LaTrobe University professor Alexandra Aikhenvald says contact with white people has not brought much good to Indigenous tribes in history so far.
"My reaction is excitement because it is always extremely interesting to see new peoples being discovered," she has told ABC's The World Today.
"But I think they would be extremely scared [after seeing the helicopter].
"They may just leave because they may have this idea that is some sort of gigantic bird that wants to engulf them all or that it is some sort of invaders or anything like that.
"If anyone might want to establish any contact with them, I don't think they should fly helicopters. They should probably just approach them very carefully and proceed with extreme caution and care."
Prof Aikhenvald strongly doubts the tribe has never had contact with white people, but says it is not impossible.
"Many of them had contact with white people at different times in the past [but] basically in the 19th Century and then during the rubber boom, many of them just fled," she said.
"Maybe they are descendants of those groups that fled from white supremacy maybe 100 or more years ago.
"So they may not have any recollections of contact with white people. They may not be really forthcoming to tell us, but in actual fact they're just hiding or they have been in hiding for many, many years."