2026年2月27日 / 美国东部时间上午9:37 / CBS/美联社
圣保罗电 — 普加皮亚（Pugapia）和她的女儿艾加（Aiga）、巴巴鲁（Babawru）多年来一直是阿昆图苏族（Akuntsu）仅存的成员。这个原住民部落因政府支持的亚马逊雨林部分区域开发计划而人口锐减。随着她们年事渐高却无子嗣延续血脉，许多人认为阿昆图苏族在这些女性离世后将彻底消失。
这一局面在去年12月发生改变：40多岁的巴巴鲁（三人中最年轻的）生下了一名男婴。阿基普（Akyp）的到来不仅为阿昆图苏族的血脉带来希望，也为同样脆弱的雨林保护事业注入了动力。
“这个孩子不仅是阿昆图苏族抵抗精神的象征，也是原住民群体希望的源泉，”巴西原住民保护机构（Funai）主席乔妮亚·瓦皮查纳（Joenia Wapichana）表示，“他代表着对这片土地的认知、保护和管理的极端必要性。”
巴西原住民保护机构（Funai）提供的照片显示，2025年12月9日，巴巴鲁·阿昆图苏（上）在巴西朗多尼亚州维伦纳地区医院的新生儿旁休息。照片拍摄于她分娩后的一天。Altair Algayer/美联社
保护原住民领地被广泛认为是遏制亚马逊雨林（全球最大雨林，全球气候关键调节者）砍伐的最有效方法之一。研究人员警告，持续的森林流失可能加速全球变暖。MapBiomas（一个追踪土地使用情况的非政府组织网络）2022年的分析显示，过去30年巴西原住民领地仅损失1%的原生植被，而全国私人土地的损失率高达20%。
在阿昆图苏族居住的朗多尼亚州，约40%的原生森林已被砍伐，仅存的未受破坏区域大多位于保护区和原住民领地内。阿昆图苏族的土地在卫星图像上呈现为一片森林孤岛，被牧场、大豆和玉米田包围。
朗多尼亚州的森林砍伐可追溯至1970年代巴西军政府时期政府支持的雨林开发计划。同期，世界银行部分资助的基础设施项目推动了向亚马逊的国内移民，包括在该州铺设公路。
人口普查数据显示，1980年代朗多尼亚州人口翻倍。定居者若为农业开垦森林可获土地所有权，若原住民在此居住则可能失去土地申请资格，这助长了受雇枪手对包括阿昆图苏族在内的原住民群体的暴力袭击。
Funai于1995年首次接触阿昆图苏族，当时发现7名幸存者。专家认为，十年前（约2015年）她们约有20人，后遭牧场主袭击。Funai人员发现袭击证据，幸存者讲述了当时的遭遇，部分人身上仍有枪伤。
最后一名阿昆图苏族男性于2017年去世。此后，巴巴鲁与母亲普加皮亚、姐姐艾加相依为命。她们的具体年龄不详，选择与非原住民世界隔绝，对其兴趣寥寥。
2006年，Funai为阿昆图苏族授予领地保护，设立奥梅雷河原住民土地，与卡诺埃族（Kanoe）共享。这两个曾为仇敌的族群开始建立联系，通常由官员从中调解。双方关系复杂，既有合作，也存在文化差异和语言障碍。
美联社通过Funai请求与这些女性进行采访，但该机构未回应。
孤立民族观察组织（Observatory of Isolated Peoples）人类学家阿曼达·维拉（Amanda Villa）表示，阿昆图苏族女性依赖卡诺埃族男性完成狩猎、开垦等“男性任务”。两个族群还交换精神知识——例如，现任卡诺埃族精神领袖从已故阿昆图苏族族长处习得传承。
但对阿昆图苏族未来最关键的进展发生在去年：巴巴鲁与一名卡诺埃族男性怀孕。
语言学家卡罗莱纳·阿拉贡（Carolina Aragon）是唯一能与三位女性交流的外部人士，多年来她研究并记录了她们的语言。她与Funai紧密合作，几乎每天通过视频通话翻译对话。阿拉贡还在巴巴鲁分娩期间远程提供支持，并陪同她进行确认怀孕的超声检查。
阿拉贡回忆道，巴巴鲁得知怀孕时十分震惊：“她说，‘我怎么会怀孕？’”她指出，巴巴鲁一直采取措施避免怀孕。
幸存的阿昆图苏族女性曾决定不生育。这一决定不仅源于社区中无其他男性，也因她们认为世界“混乱无序”，不适合抚养孩子。
“这一决定直接源于她们经历的暴力环境，”人类学家维拉表示，“她们对世界有某种灾难性的认知。”
阿昆图苏族相信，在没有能够承担狩猎、萨满仪式等“男性职责”的男性的情况下，无法孕育新生命。
“种族灭绝后的社会关系崩溃塑造了她们的生活，并随时间加深。这确实让人们——重新审视——未来，”阿拉贡说，“但未来总能带来惊喜。一个男婴出生了。”
阿拉贡称，女性们正开启“新篇章”，在卡诺埃族和Funai的支持下接纳孩子并调整传统。维拉表示，新生儿为恢复猎人等男性角色创造了可能。
长期与三位女性合作的研究人员和官员深知，保护领地取决于阿昆图苏族作为民族的存续。他们试图避免重蹈塔努鲁（Tanaru）的覆辙——该名原住民男性在独居数十年后被发现，死后非原住民群体开始争夺其领地。
2022年塔努鲁去世后，联邦政府于去年年底最终保障了该区域，将其转为受保护的自然保护区。
总部位于伦敦的原住民权利组织“生存国际”（Survival International）去年发布的报告显示，在10个国家识别的196个未接触原住民群体中，近65%面临伐木威胁，约40%面临采矿威胁，约20%面临农业综合企业威胁。报告警告，若各国政府和企业不采取行动，半数群体“可能在10年内灭绝”。
Funai的瓦皮查纳称，巴巴鲁的孩子“代表着下一代将真正包含原住民，即阿昆图苏族人，确保该民族的延续”。
通过多年努力，Funai为阿昆图苏族获得了领地保护，并促进了与卡诺埃族的联系。该机构还安排了盟友萨满的精神支持，使女性们在数十年的恐惧与失去后，能够安全地孕育新生命。
阿昆图苏族与森林和鸟类建立了深厚情感纽带，如今他们正以新的生命延续这些纽带。
“这个男孩将与他的领地建立怎样的关系？”阿拉贡说，“我希望是最好的关系，因为他在那里拥有一切所需。”
Surprise birth of a boy brings hope for Amazon tribe facing extinction with just 3 women left
February 27, 2026 / 9:37 AM EST / CBS/AP
Sao Paulo — Pugapia and her daughters Aiga and Babawru lived for years as the only surviving members of the Akuntsu, an Indigenous people decimated by a government-backed push to develop parts of the Amazon rainforest. As they advanced in age without a child to carry on the line, many expected the Akuntsu to vanish when the women died.
That changed in December, when Babawru — the youngest of the three, in her 40s — gave birth to a boy. Akyp’s arrival brought hope not just for the Akuntsu line but also for efforts to protect the equally fragile rainforest.
“This child is not only a symbol of the resistance of the Akuntsu people, but also a source of hope for Indigenous peoples,” said Joenia Wapichana, president of Brazil’s Indigenous protection agency, known as Funai. “He represents how recognition, protection and the management of this land are extremely necessary.”
A photo provided by Brazil’s Funai organization shows Babawru Akuntsu, top, resting beside Akyp, her newborn son, at the Regional Hospital of Vilhena in Vilhena, Rondonia state, Brazil, Dec. 9, 2025, one day after the birth. Altair Algayer/AP
Protecting Indigenous territories is widely seen as one of the most effective ways to curb deforestation in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest and a key regulator of the global climate. Researchers warn that continued forest loss could accelerate global warming. A 2022 analysis by MapBiomas, a network of nongovernmental groups tracking land use, found Indigenous territories in Brazil had lost just 1% of native vegetation over three decades, compared with 20% on private land nationwide.
In Rondonia state, where the Akuntsu dwell, about 40% of native forest has been cleared, and what remains untouched is largely within conservation and Indigenous areas. The Akuntsu’s land stands out in satellite images as an island of forest surrounded by cattle pasture as well as soy and corn fields.
Rondonia’s deforestation traces back to a government-backed push to occupy the rainforest during Brazil’s military regime in the 1970s. Around the same time, an infrastructure program financed in part by the World Bank promoted domestic migration to the Amazon, including the paving of a highway across the state.
In the 1980s, Rondonia’s population more than doubled, according to census data. Settlers were promised land titles if they cleared the forest for agriculture and risked losing claims if Indigenous people were present, fueling violent attacks by hired gunmen on Indigenous groups including the Akuntsu.
Funai made first contact with the Akuntsu in 1995, finding seven survivors. Experts believe they had numbered about 20 a decade earlier, when they were attacked by ranchers seeking to occupy the area. Funai agents found evidence of the assault, and when they contacted the Akuntsu, the survivors recounted what happened. Some still bore gunshot wounds.
The last Akuntsu man died in 2017. Since then, Babawru lived with her mother, Pugapia, and Aiga, her sister. The women, whose ages aren’t known for certain, have chosen to remain isolated from the non-Indigenous world, showing little interest in it.
In 2006, Funai granted territorial protection to the Akuntsu, establishing the Rio Omere Indigenous Land, which they have since shared with the Kanoe people. The two groups, once enemies, began maintaining contact, usually mediated by officials. The relationship is complex, with cooperation but also cultural differences and language barriers.
The Associated Press requested a facilitated interview with the women through Funai, but the agency didn’t respond.
Amanda Villa, an anthropologist with the Observatory of Isolated Peoples, said Akuntsu women depend on Kanoe men for tasks considered masculine, such as hunting and clearing fields. The two groups have also exchanged spiritual knowledge — the current Kanoe spiritual leader, for example, learned from the late Akuntsu patriarch.
But the most consequential development for the future of the Akuntsu may have occurred last year, when Babawru became pregnant by a Kanoe man.
Linguist Carolina Aragon is the only outsider able to communicate with the three women after years studying and documenting their language. She works closely with Funai, translating conversations almost daily through video calls. Aragon also supported Babawru remotely during her labor and was with her during an ultrasound exam that confirmed the pregnancy.
Aragon said Babawru was stunned by the news. “She said, ‘How can I be pregnant?’” Aragon recalled, nothing that Babawru had always taken precautions to avoid becoming pregnant.
The surviving Akuntsu women had decided they would not become mothers. The decision was driven not only by the absence of other men in their community, but also by the belief that their world was disorganized – conditions they felt were not suitable for raising a child.
“You can trace this decision directly to the violent context they lived through,” said Villa, the anthropologist. “They have this somewhat catastrophic understanding.”
The Akuntsu believed they could not bring new life into a world without Akuntsu men who could not only perform but also teach tasks the group considers male responsibilities, such as hunting and shamanism.
“A breakdown of social relations that followed the genocide shaped their lives and deepened over the years. That does lead people to think — and rethink — the future,” Aragon said. “But the future can surprise everyone. A baby boy was born.”
Aragon said the women were embarking on a “new chapter,” choosing to welcome the child and adapt their traditions with support from the Kanoe and Funai. Villa said the fact that the newborn is a boy creates the possibility of restoring male roles like hunter.
Researchers and officials who have long worked with the three women understood that protecting the territory depended on the Akuntsu’s survival as a people. They sought to avoid a repeat of what happened to Tanaru, an Indigenous man who was discovered after living alone and without contact for decades.
After the discovery, authorities struggled to protect Tanaru’s territory. After he died in 2022, non-Indigenous groups began disputing the land. Late last year, the federal government finally secured the area, turning it into a protected conservation unit.
A report published last year by Survival International, a London-based Indigenous rights organization, said nearly 65% of the 196 uncontacted Indigenous groups it had identified in 10 nations faced threats from logging, about 40% from mining and around 20% from agribusiness. It warned that half of the groups “could be wiped out within 10 years if governments and companies do not act” to address those threats.
Funai’s Wapichana said Babawru’s child “is a hope that this next generation will indeed include an Indigenous person, an Akuntsu, ensuring the continuity of this people.”
Through years of careful work, Funai secured territorial protection for the Akuntsu and helped foster ties with the Kanoe. The agency also arranged spiritual support from an allied shaman, allowing the women to feel safe bringing new life into the world after decades of fear and loss.
The Akuntsu form emotional bonds with the forest and with the birds. Now, they are strengthening those bonds with a new human life in their world.
“What kind of relationship will this boy have with his own territory?” Aragon said. “I hope it will be the best possible, because he has everything he needs there.”
