Plane to monitor Brazilian tribes

The Brazilian authorities are to use a plane equipped with body-heat sensors to monitor uncontacted Indian tribes in the Amazon from a distance.

Brazil has a policy of leaving such isolated indigenous groups in peace unless it is absolutely necessary to make contact.

Officials say the plane will help them to protect remote communities without interrupting their way of life.

Some 39 isolated groups are believed to be living in the Amazon region.

In May this year the authorities released a photograph of members of an uncontacted tribe firing arrows at a passing plane – an image reproduced in newspapers and on websites.

It is thought there may be more than 100 such tribes still in existence worldwide – more than half living in Latin America. …