A guardian of the Brazilian forest, most often described as a small human figure with flame-red hair and feet turned backward. Their tracks send hunters in the wrong direction, deeper into country they thought they knew. Regional descriptions vary, but the work remains consistent: protecting trees and animals from needless destruction.
Curupira stories distinguish subsistence from waste. The target is typically the hunter who kills for pleasure, takes breeding animals, or damages the forest without need. Whistles, blows against tree trunks, false trails, and imitated voices disorient the offender. This dossier treats Curupira as living Brazilian folklore and an environmental guardian, not as a generic monster detached from the Indigenous traditions that first carried the account.