Amazon – largest rainforest in world

July 7th, 2009 by Jenny Leave a reply »

Amazon River

The Amazon rainforest, also known as Amazonia is the largest and densest rainforest in the world. The Amazon covers 5,500,000 km² of area.

Scientists believe that the Amazon may contain half of the world’s species. Approximately 2.5 million insect species, 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 500 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles, and one third of the world’s birds live in Amazonia.

Facts of Amazon -

1- The Amazon rainforest gets its name from the Amazon River

2- The Amazon covers 2.5 million miles, about the size of the USA west of the

Mississippi

3- Average rainfall across the whole Amazon basin is approximately 2300 mm

Annually. In some areas of the northwest portion of the Amazon basin

rainfall can exceed 6000 mm.

4- If Amazonas were a country, it would be the 9th largest on earth.

5- Each minute the Amazon River discharges 3.4 million gallons of water into the

Atlantic

6- During its journey Amazon River touches and-or travels through 8

Countries.

7- About 20% of earth’s oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest

8- Amazon River is the second largest river but largest river in the world by

volume, with a total river flow greater than the next eight largest rivers

combined.

9-The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the

Rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, and with minor amounts in

Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

10- The Amazon rainforest was declared New7Wonders of Nature by the

New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation in 2008. Amazon was

ranking first in the category for forests, national parks and nature

Reserves.

Wildlife in Amazon-

jaguar

anaconda_big

Approximately 2.5 million insect species, 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 500 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles, and one third of the world’s birds live in Amazonia.

Anaconda-

Amazon famous for Anaconda .One of the longer and non-venomous snake in the world. They are found mostly in water like Amazon River.

The Green Anaconda is almost the world’s longest snake reaching 6–8m (20 to 27 feet) long. Although there are speculations and rumors of extremely long snakes, up to 50 m, there is no evidence that they can even reach 10 meters in length. There is a $50,000 cash reward for anyone that can catch a snake 30 feet or longer, and the prize has not been claimed yet.

Jaguar-

You can see Jaguar in Amazon forest near Amazon River. The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus. The jaguar is the third-largest deceptive after the tiger and the lion.

Tapir-

The Tapir is the largest mammal (350-600 pounds) in the Amazon rainforest. They have a great sense of smell and hearing which are used to defend his enemies.

Vampire Bat-

There are almost a 1000 species of bats in the Amazon rainforest. Actually the only true vampire bat available in Amazon, they can feed on blood.

Leafcutter Ant-

Leafcutter ants perfectly survived in the last 50 million years. Leafcutter ants have a very strong social system where every ant has a job, like colony defender, young ant’s caretaker, leafcutters, gardeners and foragers.

Scarlet Macaw-

scarletmacaw

The Scarlet Macaw is a large, colorful Macaw. Some called the Scarlet to be among the most beautiful birds in the world. Macaw is about 81 to 96 cm long. The average weight is about one kilogram.

Frogs-

There are two species of tree frog commonly known as the Arizona Tree Frog: Mountain Tree Frog, Hyla Eximine – the official Arizona state amphibian. Canyon Tree Frog, Hyla Arenicolor

Human Being in the Amazon-
The bulk of the human population in the Amazon Basin is found in cities which have emerged from the surrounding rainforest to become significant population centers. Very few cities available in Amazon and most of the located in Brazil and Peru

City Country Urban Population
Belem Brazil 1,912,600
Manaus Brazil 1,524,600
Iquitos Peru 349,300
Macapa Brazil 301,600
Porto Velho Brazil 292,000
Santarem Brazil 192,300
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