- Newly released drone footage shows an isolated tribe in Brazil captured on camera for the first time.
- Funai, Brazil's agency for indigenous people, has been monitoring this and other isolated communities for years, but will not make contact with them.
- The group knows about the outside world but has likely isolated itself due to traumatic experiences, according to Funai.
- Funai says it is fighting to protect these communities and has registered 107 isolated tribes across Brazil.
New drone footage captured for the first time ever an isolated tribe in Brazil's Amazon rainforest isolated from modern technology and the outside world.
Researchers have been monitoring the community for years but never before captured it on camera. Funai, Brazil's agency for indigenous affairs, released the footage, first taken in 2017, on Tuesday.
The drone footage, first reported by The Associated Press, shows 16 people walking through jungle and a deforested area with crops.
You can watch the footage here:
Despite taking the footage, Funai has not attempted to contact the community — the same approach it takes with all indigenous groups that it monitors.
Bruno Pereira, who is coordinating Funai's study of indigenous groups in the region, told the AP that the people are aware of the cities and farms that surround them, but these groups often choose to isolate themselves due to traumatic experiences with the outside world.
"If they wanted contact with the outside world, they would seek out ways to communicate with us," he said.
Eleven confirmed isolated groups inhabit Vale do Javari, an indigenous territory in the southwestern part of the state of Amazonas — more than anywhere else in Brazil.
Overall, Funai has registered 107 isolated tribes across Brazil. The agency says it is committed to creating policies that protects these people and their isolation, according to its website.
Pereira told the AP that monitoring the groups allows researchers to study their culture. He said that Funai has not been able to identify the name of the tribe and only has guesses about its ethnicity and what language its people speak.
Funai's president, Wallace Bastos, said that "These images have the power to make society and the government reflect on the importance of protecting these groups," the AP reported.
Funai says that it delayed the release of the footage to protect their study.
