From Brazil: Images of 'uncontacted' Indians

Dramatic new photos said to depict previously uncontacted Indians in the Amazon are causing a buzz among conservationists and others.

The Brazilian Indian affairs agency, known as FUNAI, published the photos on its website. FUNAI also posted a map showing where uncontacted tribes are said to be living in the Amazon.

The latest group was photographed from an aircraft flying over a reserve near the remote Brazil-Peru border, FUNAI said. The agency says it is dedicated to protecting the groups. Some of the photos show people painted bright red and toting bows and arrows. Here's a story from O Estado de Sao Paulo about the photos.

The subject of uncontacted tribes has become a matter of some controversy. Some doubt their existence.

But organizations such as Survival International say dozens of such groups exist and face threats from logging and other human activities, as well as from disease. Survival International has launched a campaign to win protection for remote Amazonian tribes.

-- Marcelo Soares in Sao Paulo and Patrick J. McDonnell in Buenos Aires.

Photo: Image released by Survival International is said to show uncontacted Amazonian Indians near the Brazil-Peru border, photographed from an aircraft. (AP Photo/FUNAI.)