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Why is the Amazon Rain Forest so special?
The Amazon Rain Forest in
Brazil and Peru is immense
(it's larger than Europe). The
6280 kilometer (3900 mile)
long Amazon River is fed by a
thousand rivers - some over
1600 kilometers (1000 miles)
long.
Of the millions of different kinds of animals on earth, the group
known as insects is the most common. This is certainly true of the
Amazon basin too. Here we look at the wide variety of animals from
small insects to large mammals.
Click on the Piranha to see other types of
animals in the rain forest.
Anaconda
The anaconda has quite a reputation. Movies and books make
it out to be a dangerous killer that should cause fear. I was
dying to see one. There are two species of anaconda in the
Amazon basin. The Great Water Boa and the Yellow Boa.
Anaconda are types of boa constrictor and catch their food by
grabbing them and then squeezing them to death like any other
constrictor.
Jaguar
"A beast that kills
its prey with one
bound"
Most jaguars live in Central and South
America. Jaguars live in dense tropical rain
forests and swampy grasslands.
Macaw
The macaw is a long-tailed
parrot that lives in South
America and Mexico.
Sixteen species of macaws
inhabit tropical forests from
central Mexico to northern
Argentina, distinguished
among the world's 340
parrot species by their long
tails and huge beaks.
Poison Arrow Frog
What is small, beautiful, and
deadly and only found in a rain
forest? Poison arrow frogs are
interesting and important
amphibians of the Amazon
rain forest. The color of the
frog ranges from red, green,
blue, and yellow. Even though
they are small sized frogs, their
bright color embellishes the
Amazon rain forest.
There are a huge variety
of plants throughout the
Amazon Rain Forest.
Many of these plants are
only now being found
and examined for
possible uses in industry
and medicine.
Click on the picture above
to see some of the plants.
Banana Plant
Everyone eats bananas
from the tropics though
they originated in Asia.
However, there are many
different kinds and most
are not exported to other
parts of the world.
Cocoa - Chocolate
The cocoa tree of the
Amazon basin produces
the fruit this way and it
is turned into the
chocolate that is
enjoyed all over the
world. The natural tree
may grow 12-16 meters
(30-50 feet) tall but
cultivated trees are
much shorter.
Vanilla Plant
Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia)
is a member of the orchid
family. While orchids are
one of the most beautiful
flowers to look at, vanilla is
the only produced from
these plants. It occurs as a
vine that lives for many
years and may reach a
length of 60 to 100 feet.
Have you ever wondered what is sounds like in the
Amazon Rain Forest?
Heavy Rain
Light Rain
For more exciting sounds of the Amazon Rain Forest
visit http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/sounds.html
Amazon Rain Forest
What kind of shape is it in?
People have not dwelt in large numbers
throughout the tropical rain forests, but
small groups of people live throughout the
region. They constantly move around and
clear small areas and plant crops. When
they reach an area they want to use, they
chop down trees and burn them in order to
create a clear area. They then plant seeds
in the ashes--but after a few years the soil
nutrients become used up and it is no
longer good for gardening, so they move
somewhere else and start the process all
over again. This process is called slashand-burn cultivation, which can support a
small population but will not work with
larger ones.
Amazon Rain Forest
Tropical rain forests are now being cleared
at an ever-increasing rate worldwide.
Scientists estimate that from 13 1/2 million
to 55 million acres of tropical rain forests
are destroyed every year. Two of the main
reasons for cutting down tropical rain
forests are because of commercial timber
and the needs of an expanding population.
All of this massive destruction is leading to
the greatest number of plant and animal
extinctions the earth has ever experienced.
If one animal or plant becomes extinct,
most likely it does not effect us, but how
many animals or plants can we let become
extinct until it does effect us, and we "open
our eyes" to this growing problem.
Amazon Rain Forest
Many people do not know the harm in
destroying these tropical rain forests. Trees and
plants use the gas carbon dioxide during a
process called photosynthesis to make food.
However, while it is necessary to have carbon
dioxide, having too much can be a problem.
Carbon dioxide is a heavy gas that has the
property of holding heat and causing the
temperature of the surrounding area to rise.
Because of the burning and removal of trees
and plants in tropical rain forests, the levels of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are
increasing. The amount of carbon dioxide is
steadily rising (as are the amount of solid
particles that also keep in heat) at about 0.4
percent each year, and the destruction of the
tropical rain forests is contributing to the
Greenhouse Effect.
Amazon Rain Forest
What are some things that you predict will
happen if people continue to destroy the
rain forest?
How does destroying the Amazon Rain
Forest affect us?
Amazon Rain Forest
What do Scientists predict will
happen if people continue to
destroy the Rain Forest?
Scientists predict that if this continues, there will be a rise in
temperature, climate changes, and sea levels will rise significantly,
affecting millions of people by major flooding. Many of our
valuable resources come from tropical rain forests, like plants to
make medicines and rubber, but if we keep destroying these
tropical rain forests, we will soon find out that it will not only
effects the ecological balance, but will effect us in the long run as
well.