Connect to share and comment  A reported blog on happenings
around Latin America.  Ecuador raises money to preserve nature
reserve  Ecuador said it wouldn't mine the crude oil underneath
the reserve in exchange for donations. Monkey amazonEnlarge A
golden headed lion tamarin monkey, native to the Amazon
rainforest. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)  Ecuador has raised
enough funds to continue with an innovative plan to preserve a
pristine nature reserve.  Yasuni National Park has more mammal,
bird, amphibian and plant species in a 100 square-mile area than
any other spot in the hemisphere, concluded a team of
international scientists.  Because it didn't freeze during the
last ice age, it became a refuge for thousands of species that
eventually repopulated the Amazon.  But it also sits on top of
900 million barrels of untapped crude oil.  Under a innovative,
UN-backed plan, Ecuador said it would leave the 722-square-mile
oil field untouched, if the international community covered at
least 50 percent of the lost