Hundreds of species of mammals, primates, birds, fish and reptiles have been documented, including several that are endemic as well as either endangered or threatened.

The reserve was established to conserve ecosystems of upland and floodable rainforests, as well as ecological and evolutionary processes of the area, guaranteeing the sustainable use of the wildlife by the local population.

Tamshiyacu Tahuayo has several research and tourist activities focused on wildlife-spotting, including camping, hiking, boating, bird watching and fishing.

During the 1980s, the Peruvian government noted the unusual number of primates produced by this region and so in the early 1980s biologist Pekka Soini (who later became renowned for his conservation work with Amazon turtles in the Pacaya Samiria) and his assistant Rogelio Castro, conducted the first primate population survey under the auspices of IVITA (the Peruvian Instituto Veterinario de Investigaciones Tropicales y de Altura).

In 1984, University of Illinois primatologist Paul Garber and his student Richard Bodmer came from the United States to further study the mammalian ecology.

Unfortunately, during the first ten years of its creation, the legal protection of the RCTT failed as commercial loggers and fisheries exploited many resources.

However, in 2006 the election of pro-conservation candidate Yvan Vasquez as regional president of Loreto renewed support for Tahuayo conservation.

A few years later on May 15, 2009 the proposal was ratified by the national government of Peru in Lima, the Ministry of Environment signed the Decreto Supremo 010-2009-MINAM, law that officially created the Area de Conservation Regional Communal Tamshiyacu Tahuayo (ACRCTT).

Some of the wildlife that inhabits the ACRCTT area are monkeys the huapo Colorado or red bald uakari (Cacajao calvus ucayalii), the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus), the red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus); the pink dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), the grey dolphin (Sotalia fluviatilis), the brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus), the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), the spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus), the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), the South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), the giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), jaguar (Panthera onca), the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the wattled curassow (Crax globulosa), the hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja), among others.

This protected area is located on the lowland jungle (Spanish: selva baja) also known as Omagua region or Amazon basin.