Richard Fowler (naturalist)

Richard "Aukcoo" Fowler (1948–2016) was an American naturalist, wilderness guide, and U.S. Army veteran based in Iquitos, Peru.

Fowler enlisted in the Army in 1968, during the Vietnam War. After serving two tours of duty, he eventually expatriated to Peru and continued to live much of his life in the jungle. Fowler says he enlisted in part because he felt the rainforest calling to him; once there, he felt that its foliage gave reason to the chaos of his life.

Bill Grimes, a business owner in Iquitos, was acquainted with Fowler: "Richard's niche is mostly hard core, adventurous, soldier of fortune, survivalist types. His tours are rough, with few comforts." Another commenter described Fowler as a "hero of people whose personal libraries consist of exactly: Soldier of Fortune back issues, Gary Larson cartoons, Apocalypse Now: The Picture Book, and Heart of Darkness".

In the works of Tahir Shah
Fowler features in writer-filmmaker Tahir Shah's travel books Trail of Feathers (2001) and House of the Tiger King (2003). When Shah first arrives in Iquitos, he searches for a guide to take him deep into the Amazon rainforest for his Trail of Feathers expedition. An American expat called "Max" tells him, "You need a man who can trek through the rain-forest in the dead of night... A man who can kill an anaconda with his bare hands; who can live on a diet of tree grubs washed down with his own urine; a man who's taken ayahuasca a hundred times, who'll protect you if it means sacrificing his own life...a man who has no fear" and subsequently presents him with Fowler, who, according to Max, fulfills all the above requirements. Shah recounts his first impression of Fowler:

"Standing in the frame was a ferocious-looking foreigner. A shade over six feet, he was as lean as a race horse, with a back so straight as to be unnatural. He was drenched with rain and dressed from top to toe in camouflage... His unshaven face was daubed red in warpaint, its long chin etched with a diagonal scar. Around his neck were military dog tags."

- Tahir Shah

Fowler tells him, "I promise that if you hire me, I will keep you alive." In the dedication for Trail of Feathers, Shah writes: "I am grateful to Richard Fowler, 101st Airborne Division, for keeping his promise."

Shah hired Fowler again when writing House of the Tiger King, even though the he felt that Fowler was "an impossible character" and whom he had "vowed never to communicate with him again". But, Shah explains, "I needed a security man. However impossible he was, Richard was a known entity."