The Amazon's Biodiversity
The Amazon is home to infinite numbers of animal and plant species than any other earthly ecosystem in the world. The breathtaking land holds up to 40,000 plant species, 3,000 types of fish, 1,300 bird species, 378 reptiles, 427 mammals and a massive 2.5million different species of insects! In other words about 1/10 of notorious species in the world make up the Amazon living in the the rainforest, basin, river or grasslands.
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/ |
AMAZON RIVER The Amazon River is the glorious river of South America being home to one of the richest biodiversity in the world and adopting 2.500 species of fish and more that have to this day not been discovered. Due to the fact that a mass amount of animals live exclusively in the the Amazon River and fear extinction the government, local businesses and indigenous people in countries such as Brazil and Peru have taken matters into their own hands and vowed to protect the river itself and the animals.
The Pink dolphin also known as Bufeo is one of the most endangered species in the Amazon River, so much that it was believed to be completely extinct around 20 years ago. The dolphin's skin appears to the eye as pink due to its blood capillaries being near the surface of their skin, other remarkable features they acquire are a long bottle nose and having a large hump rather than a fin. Remarkably these fascinating creatures are found only in the Amazon River along with manatees, electric eels, otters and so much more! http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/ecosystems_amazon/rivers/ http://www.discover-peru.org/peru-geography-amazon-river-ecosystem/ |
Amazon Rainforest The Amazon Rain forest is known for being the largest tropical rain forest in the world, extending about 40% of the entire South American continent. Interestingly enough the rain forest itself is extremely diverse ranging from flooded forests, seasonal forests, swamps and savannas not to mention that it is home to a staggering 16,000 different species of trees. All of these different forests usually have similar temperature patterns ranging from 72 to 93 °F and high concentrations of humidity depending on the solar energy and most importantly the elevation.
Floodplain forests are created by the great amount of rainfall the Amazon generates each and every year, rising between 7.5 to 15 meters during wet season. Considering that the Amazon Basin is generally flat and there is more water than water channels can accommodate, the water as a result begins to overflow from the rivers and forms new bodies of water like oxbow lakes and ponds. Since flooding is a common occurrence in the Amazon specific trees overcome the flooding period by defoliating and forming annual rings in the wood! https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/rainforest_ecology.html http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/ecosystems_amazon/floodplain_forests/ |
The Cerrado Savanna may not be the first area that comes to mind when imagining the Amazon Rainforest but it should not be overlooked. The Cerrado makes up about 20% of Brazil in other words this particular Savanna is the size of England, France, Germany Italy and Spain combined. This breathtaking biome is filled with wooded grasslands and is home to 1,600 mammals, birds and reptiles. Sadly only 3% of the savanna is under legal protection, causing its rich biodiversity to crumble day after day even faster than the Amazon rainforest. The World Wide Fund for Nature is working endlessly to protect the Cerrado's native habitats and unique animals from extinction in hope to save this beautiful savanna.
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/cerrado/ |
The Extraordinary Mammals
of the Amazon
The Amazon being one of the wold's most
diverse ecosystems comes along with being the home of the most diverse mammals on the planet. Along the amazon you will find a rich assortment of breath taking animals from squirrel monkeys, ocelots, otters and sloths. One must keep in mind that these mammals not only live on land but make up a great portion of the river itself. All you have to do is look for them or they will find you! Sloths are typically located in Central and South America within rainforests enjoying the company of elevated trees. Due to having long claws ranging from 3 to 4 inches each, it makes the simple task of walking quite difficult for them, resulting in spending most of their time in tall trees. These lazy creatures are around the same size a of a medium size dog extending between 23 to 27 inches and weighing about 18 pounds. Hopefully with their amazing camouflage skills these unique sloths can inhabit the Amazon rainforest for more years to come. The Ocelot also referred to as the "Painted Leopard" belongs to the wild cat family, located all over South America specifically in the regions of Argentina and Bolivia. The characteristics of this particular cat species fits the description of any domestic cat, having a slender body, long tail, similar weight and but is about twice the size of your average house cat! On the other hand the Ocelot's fur pattern resembles very much the brown spots of a Jaguar. Interestingly enough, the particular fur color of the cat differs depending on its habitat, the closer to a heavily forested habitat the darker the rich yellow, cream coat it will have. Sadly the Ocelot's population trend is decreasing primarily because of its unique fur, hopefully with the assistance of the United States protecting these beautiful animals and the WWF we can come together and preserve the Ocelots. http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/squirrel_monkey http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/animals/slothpage.html https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/o/ocelot/ |
The Creepy Crawlers
If you didn't know already an estimated 90% of the animals inhabiting the Amazon are none other than insects. The amazon rainforest alone is home to as many as 2.5 million different species of insects despite a small portion of this number being yet to be discovered by scientists, and properly identified. Luckily, these unique critters are more than happy to live in the single most diverse biome in the world, finding their way underneath the rich soil of the rainforest and basin. If you make your way down to the wonderful county of Peru you will possibly find the jewel caterpillar also referred to as the "Walking Diamond." Their outer skin resembles a clear gooey jello substance to the human eye, but if you dare to touch it the surface isn't wet or gooey at all. If you take a good look under the glossy caterpillar it has spikes coming off its cuticle which are quite fragile, but play the role of an anti predator defense. Last but not least do not let this breath taking picture fool you because these beautiful caterpillars are typically half an inch long making them extremely difficult to spot but it wont stop them from transforming into moths! Continuing with the clear theme we also have the glass - winged butterflies! Typically butterflies have overlapping scales on their wings that make up beautiful multicolored patterns but in this case, these butterflies have only a couple concentrated around its outer edges making its wings appear crystal clear. These unique creatures are difficult to spot even when they are caterpillars as they begin to transform into small silver drops glistening on stems lighting the forrest with mirror reflections. Typically found in Venezuela and Colombia these butterflies grow to become toxic solely on the simple fact of feeding on particular plants, making them quite dangerous under some circumstances. Luckily these magnificent creatures are in no immediate danger and are expected to live for many more years. http://thinkjungle.com/amazon-rainforest-life/amazon-rainforest-insects/ https://www.sciencealert.com/jewel-caterpillars-at-the-nudibranchs-of-the-forest https://animalsake.com/facts-about-glasswinged-butterflies |
Amphibians of the Forest
The Amazon tropical rainforest is the perfect home
for none other than amphibians. The rainforest provides a variety of tropical sceneries for all types of amphibians such as high canopy to streams and many creeks! Sadly amphibians and reptiles are in great danger due to pet trade, and tremendous habitat loss over the last couple of years, and to make matters even more intense an immense disease has been spreading around the world leading to the extinction of toads and frogs over the past 30 years. Thankfully, there are a plethora of amphibians remaining within the rainforest that provide colorful and unique qualities to the amazon. One of the most recognizable frogs in the world is the blue poison dart frog found in heavily humid areas such as tropical forests all over central and south America. These magnificent creatures are diurnal and showcase extremely bright colorations intertwining with great levels of toxicity. The name "dart frog" comes from the Amerindians' natives that have learned to utilize the frogs toxic secretions to poison the very tips of their blow darts and use them to their advantage during battle or for self defense. Although these frogs may be about 1.5 to 6 centimeters long their poison has great medical value! Believe it or not the frogs poison to generate painkillers, one so powerful that it is 200 times as dominant as morphine. https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amphibians.html https://www.aqua.org/explore/animals/blue-poison-dart-frog |
Surprisingly enough, the World Wildlife Fund shed light to the amazing discovery of a whopping 1,200 new species of vertebrates and plants in the Amazon. The Ranitomeya Amazonica being one of the extraordinary species that was discovered, mainly found in humid forests in the low Amazonian lands of Peru and extreme southeastern Colombia. These unique frogs range between 16 to 19 millimeters long, with very smooth black skin. The upper part of their torsos are either striped red or orange while their bottom arms and legs are typically a mixture of grey, blue, green on their black skin. Due to their explosive discovery in the late 1990's these frogs have been able to reproduce quite efficiently, so much that they have become very popular and widespread in the Amazon.
http://www.dendrobates.org/dendrobatoidea/dendrobatidae/dendrobatinae/ranitomeya/ranitomeya-amazonica/ |