A new Indian tribe that hasn’t had contact with civilization was discovered in the Amazon. Brazil’s National Indian Foundation said in the statement it spotted a group of Indians, six huts and a large planted area near the Envira River, close to the Peruvian border in the Brazilian state of Acre in the western Amazon rainforest.

“We put the photos out because if things continue the way they are going, these people are going to disappear,” said Jose Carlos Meirelles, who coordinates government efforts to protect four “uncontacted” tribes for Brazil's National Indian Foundation, according to the Associated Press. Specialists have known about the group for some 20 years. They’ve tried to prevent intrusions by loggers to ensure their autonomy, but they released the images now to draw attention to fast-encroaching development near the Indians' home in the jungles near Peru.

“These pictures are very important to convince governments and companies that isolated tribes do exist,” David Hill, a researcher at Survival International, a London-based group that defends the rights of tribal people worldwide, said in an interview from London, according to Bloomberg. “They also send a very clear message: Leave us alone, stay out.”

Funai estimates that nearly 500 people live in the newly discovered community in the area of about 1.6 million acres along the Envira River. Anthropologists suspect the group is related to the Tano and Aruak tribes.

Specialists say “uncontacted” Indians often respond violently to the contact and they may be exposed to diseases which are common to outside society, but for which they don’t have immunity. Common diseases such as cold or flu may be fatal to them.