Field Museum scientists learn about biodiversity, conservation in Amazon Basin

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CHICAGO (CBS) -- A team of scientists from the Field Museum of Natural History has just returned from one of the remotest places on earth.

The scientists spent weeks exploring the far reaches of the Amazon rainforest in South America—and they are working to protect the rainforest, and our planet.

No matter where she is, Dr. Lesley De Souza seems at home talking about fish. When CBS News Chicago visited the Field Museum Wednesday, De Souza was showing some youngsters specimens of a wolf fish and an armored catfish—both of which are found in the waters of the Amazon River Basin.

De Souza herself is still acclimating to the urban jungle of Chicago—after a month in the Amazon jungle.

"Well, 48 hours ago, we were in deep southern Guyana," said De Souza. "When you fly into this area, it was just a sea of green."

De Souza and her team visited one of the most pristine rainforests in the world.

"Because it's an area that's super-remote, we know very little about it," she said.

The team from the Field Museum worked with local experts to survey the hotspot of biodiversity.

"This is some of the largest tracts of intact forest on the globe, and our team is working together with the government of Guyana to identify areas that they can use—or they can set aside for conservation," De Souza said.

The museum called the voyage the largest-ever scientific expedition to the region.

"What we found in just a month was pretty remarkable," De Souza said.

The team discovered 20 potential new species to science—mostly fish, but also a frog and a lizard.

"Just in the short time we know that this place is really special, and it has some really incredible biodiversity," De Souza said.

The team soaked in all they could from the Guyanese people.

"We got to learn from them about what the place meant to them—what was important culturally—and that goes into how we think of what could be successful, effective, and equitable conservation in the future," said Elliott Oakley, an environmental social scientist with the Field Museum.

Meanwhile, no matter how far the jungle may seem from Chicago, a scientist can take you there in an instant. Those who saw De Souza's presentation at the Field Museum on Wednesday might have been glad that the freshwater eels she described were in jars.

"They have an electric charge," she explained of the eels. "When they want to eat a fish, they stun their prey—and then they wrap it up and, 'Bloop!' Eat it up."

But those eels are part of an ecosystem for which there is a lot to learn and a lot to conserve too.

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Field Museum scientists learn about biodiversity, conservation in Amazon Basin

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