The Amazon!

Facts About The Amazon

*It is the largest rain forest in the world! It stretches over 1.4 billion acres of land and If it was a country it would be the 9th largest in the world!

*At the moment there are at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the Amazon!

*The Amazon rainforest has been in existence for at least 55 million years!

* The trees of a tropical rainforest are so tightly packed that rain falling on the canopy can take as long as 10 minutes to reach the ground!

Tribes

There are a lot of tribes that live in the Amazon rainforest. Many tribes have different cultures and traditions that are passed down for all Amazon tribes. For example: Yanomami tribes are the largest tribe in the Amazon today and they have different traditions from the Caboclos, Witoto, Manioc, and the Kayapo. Like the Yanomami is the Caboclos. The Caboclos live in the Amazon too. They are very skilled hunters. The Caboclos are very good cookers too. They are very wise and can live in the Amazon with out any problems. One tradition is that the Witoto tribe eats the meat of the people they kill and use their bones as souveniers or make things.

Animals That Live In The Amazon!

Scarlet Macaw – are the beautiful scarlet birds that love to eat seeds, nuts, fruits and can live upto 60 yrs or more.

There are tons of animals that live in The Amazon but here are some of them.

Anaconda – is the largest snake on the earth and can even gobble up a Jaguar. They don’t kill prey by venom Instead, they wrap their bodies around their prey and squeeze until it stops breathing.

Poison dart frog – are the most poisonous creatures on Earth. They are very brightly colored and ooze poison through their skin.

More Facts!

The Amazon Rainforest is so large that it spans nine countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

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* Many modern medicines derive from plants found in the rainforest, and this is just from the 1% that have been tested for medicinal properties. With more than forty thousand plant varieties found in the rainforest, the potential for finding new vaccines is enormous. Imagine the possibilities

*Most of our food originally comes from the rainforests of the Amazon. Amazon derived products include bananas, black pepper, chocolate, coffee, corn, pineapple, rice and tomatoes.

Deforestation

It is estimated that in rainforests around the world, 150 acres of rainforest are burned every minute.

Experts estimate that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year.

We are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years.

The Amazon River

The Amazon River is located in South America and is over 640km long. If you were

wondering were it begins its in the Andes Mountains. For much of its path, the Amazon River can be as much as one to six miles wide! During flood seasons, the Amazon River can be much, much wider; some report it is more than 20 miles wide (32 km) in certain places.

The Amazon got its name from the Spanish explorers. Female warriors called "Icamiabas", meaning "women without husbands" attacked Francisco Orellana. Orellana named the river "Rio Amazonas" after these women whom he compared to the Amazons of ancient Greek mythology.

Thanks For Listening!