The Adventure of a Life time! By: Madison K.
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Joyce and Linda glanced at each other. Both of them knew what the other person was thinking. That they had to get this next puzzle correct, They were on national TV. playing for a chance to win a trip to the Amazon rainforest.
This is a drawing of the plane taking off it was drawn by an artist.
They had arrived earlier that day at the
Wheel of Fortune studio. They had arrived just to watch the show. But, they were asked to participate.
They had won the most money so
far. They just had to get the next puzzle correct to win the trip to the Amazon rainforest. Joyce and Linda were best friends. They had been friends for as long as they could remember. It was Linda’s turn to spin the wheel the puzzle had just come up. The subject was places. It was a four letter word. It was in South America. Linda chose to solve it. She said “Peru”? All of a sudden lots of colorful balloons rained down on their heads. All of a sudden the host said “You Linda have just won yourself and Joyce a trip to the Amazon
rainforest”!!!
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After the details had been worked out, Joyce and Linda left to get ready for the trip which was the next day at 4:00 a.m. They would be flying on a private plane to the Amazon. They would be landing in Brazil which is in South America. An environmentalist would pick them up when they landed. Linda got up at 2:00 that morning. As soon as she woke up Linda called Joyce. “Hello”? Linda asked. “Are you there Linda”? “Yes, Yes I am. What do you need? Oh nothing I just wanted to make sure that you were awake and getting ready because we have to be at the airport at 3:00 o’clock and I will be picking you up soon and then we will go to the airport. Well I am up and getting ready so I will see you soon. Alright. Goodbye. Bye”. After that Linda was wondering what kind of culture that they would learn about. It was 2:30 a.m. Linda was on her way to pick Joyce up from her house to go to the airport. As Joyce climbed into Linda’s large SUV, Linda asked Joyce, “Do you have everything?” “Yes.” Joyce answered. “Are
Linda's SUV
you sure? You’ve got the 2 maps, your coat, hiking boots, mosquito repellent, and sunscreen? Yes. Yes, Linda I’ve got everything. Okay. Wait, do you have your binoculars? YES!!” exclaimed Joyce. “Okay then, let's get going.” Said Linda. 3
When they arrived at the airport, it was 3:10 a.m. They were checking their bags in when someone behind them started to scream. Joyce and Linda whipped around. They saw who was screaming it was a little girl. Joyce ran up to the little girl and asked “what is wrong?” The little girl said “Someone’s cat came loose from its cage and attacked my mother and she is also highly allergic to cats.” Joyce looked at Linda. Linda recognized that look. She had seen it many times. It was Joyce’s way of saying that she had to help. Linda sighed. “Okay, she said but we have 30 minutes to help”. Joyce turned back to the little girl. “Okay little girl, first we have to tell one of the people who work here at the airport. Were you and your mother planning to fly anywhere today? No. We have already flown today we just came home from the French Guiana. We were exploring the Amazon rainforest. Cool that is what I will be doing for the next few weeks”. They went and talked up to one of the airline people. Joyce said “Call an ambulance this little girl’s mother was attacked by a cat and is allergic to them also”. “Okay I will.” Joyce and Linda waited until the ambulance arrived. Then they left the scene and went to find where they would wait until they were allowed to get on the plane. Although it was a private plane, other people were allowed to travel on it. But, only if they were traveling to somewhere that most people don’t for example, the Amazon rainforest. At 4:00 a.m. sharp they were allowed to get on the plane. Joyce was tingling with excitement. Linda on the other hand was nervous.
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She didn’t know what it was would be like. She was scared that on their trip that they would run into a caiman. Linda hated the idea of meeting a caiman. She knew that a caiman was a carnivore and could also be an omnivore. And that it ate anything that came near the edge of the river and she also knew that the only predators of the caiman are the poison dart frog and the human. But, Linda did have knowledge on her side though because she could point out if a caiman was coming because it is small like a crocodile but is different because it has a much smaller head and it is much more ferocious. The only reason it can survive in the Amazon is because it is small so it can hide from its predators, it has very, very sharp teeth so it can rip its prey apart, and it is really mean. A caiman cannot camouflage its self Although she was scared Linda was also very excited. She had never been out of the country let alone the continent. Once they were in the air and it was safe to turn on electronic devices, Joyce and Linda both pulled out their laptops. Joyce never left her home without it. Just in case she might need it. The first thing Joyce did was look up the coordinates of the Amazon rainforest. She found out that they were 0˚-15˚ south latitude and 45˚-75˚ west longitude. She also found out that the Amazon rainforest was located in Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, French Guiana, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Suriname and that it was in the south and west hemispheres. The first thing Linda looked up was the climate that they were going to be in. She went to the search bar and typed in "WHAT IS THE 5
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST?" The first thing that popped up she clicked. It said The average temperature in the Amazon rainforest is 79˚F. The average rainfall is 103 in a year. The Amazon rainforest is in the tropical climate zone. Linda and Joyce both closed their laptops and fell asleep. When they woke up, the plane was landing. The plane came to a stop. Linda and Joyce were the first ones off. It was a good thing to because their baggage was the first one of the plane. Once they had claimed their baggage, they went looking for the environmentalist. Soon they saw him. He was holding a sign that said: Joyce and Linda. Joyce and Linda hurried over to him and said "Hi, we are Joyce and Linda. What is your name?" " My name is Marcos. I will be your guide through the Amazon rainforest. Now, let's get going". The three of them left and climbed into a jeep. When they had been driving about 5 minutes, Marcos said " You will get to meet two tribes while you are here the first will be the Yanomami. The Yanomami are indigenous to South America. You will see them in about 2 minutes.” When they had arrived at the camp, Joyce and Linda noticed first thing that their camp was very organized. They also noticed that the families lived together and that used techniques from today and from a long time ago. "What are those straw huts for?" Linda asked. "Well that is what they live in". Marcos explained. 6
Yanomami boy
"They also where barely any clothes, eat what they catch or grow, and sometimes where what looks like porcupine needles in their skin because they believe that it will keep the demons away." "Well would you like to meet some of the people living here?" " Ummm.. No not right now." The two ladies said in unison. "We are still tired from the plane ride could we set up camp and learn more?" "We will only be here two days". After they had set camp up and Linda had gone to bed Joyce asked, " Marcos, how did the tribe get the modern stuff we have back home? Well Joyce, they probably traded by riding down the river in a tree they hollowed out or walked down a dirt road and then traded. It all depends. Okay thank you Marcos. I think I will go to bed now. Alright good night." When Joyce got in the tent that they had set up earlier, and laid down she started to think about how in the pictures on her laptop the rainforest had a lot more trees then it really did. "People must have cut them down or deforested them". she thought. Joyce already knew that 80% of everyone's oxygen came from the rainforest. What would happen if people continued cutting down trees for paper? Would they be able to survive without that 80%? Suddenly, Joyce awoke with a start. When she opened her eyes the first thing she saw over her was Linda. "What time is it? Joyce asked. It's 8:00 a.m. answered Linda. We have a long day ahead of us." Joyce got up and got dressed quickly. When she was done, she went outside of the tent. "Good morning! said Marcos. Morning answered Joyce. Marcos, I have a 7
question. Ask away said Marcos. Can people hurt the rainforest when they aren't meaning any harm? Well of course. How? Well, one way is deforestation which is when they cut down trees when they need paper, wood, boats or other things. How can we help though? Joyce asked. Well we cannot use as much paper, use less wood, and a big thing, and recycle. Oh, okay thank you Marcos. Your welcome Joyce." "Hey, guys over here. said Linda. What is it? asked Joyce. It is a gold lion tamarin. What is that? asked Joyce. Well, said Linda it is a small orange, fluffy animal that lives in the trees, its predators are humans, poison dart frogs, and jaguars. What does it eat? asked Marcos. It eats lizards, spiders, and insects. That means it those animals are its prey. But it mainly is an herbivore which means it eats plants. It adapts to the rainforest because it is small and a fast climber." This is a gold lion tamarin. "Let's go meet the other tribe guys" said Marcos. Linda and Joyce agreed. This time they did not travel by jeep they traveled by foot. After about five minutes of walking, Joyce had stopped. "What's up? asked Linda. "This is so cool. said Joyce. What asked Linda? I can see every layer of the rainforest from this very spot. What layers? asked Linda. The emergent which is the very top where eagles, monkeys, bats and 8
butterflies, oh and trees of course live there. Then after that is the Canopy layer. Where snakes, toucans, and tree frogs live. After that is the understory where jaguars, and tree frogs live and some plants like orchids live. The last layer is the forest floor. Where giant anteaters and caiman live. Oh okay let's get moving again." After ten more minutes they arrived at the tikuna tribe. Joyce and Linda noticed that they have much more western influence than the yanomami tribe. Joyce pointed out that every family lived in a straw hut and that all straw huts are in a circle and in the center is a community center. Linda observed that although they use some of the western influenced ideas, that they still use the ideas from long ago. Marco explained that there were only about 25 families living there. As Joyce started walking around when she glanced at one of the children she saw they were wearing clothes made out of fiber from trees. Linda was scared to walk around because she was worried that she would disrupt their camp. After Joyce started walking around, Linda
Tikuna girl
did too. She spotted that ate fruit, fish that they catch from the river, crops they grow, and animals they hunt. They also have lots of pets. Some people there are in charge of scrapping the saprophytes off of their crops because a saprophyte is a decomposer that looks like a mushroom. Saprophytes do not have a predator and its prey is anything that is dead. It also lives on the forest floor. A saprophyte does not have foliage or leaves. 9
Soon, it was time to leave. Joyce and Linda were very sad. They had become friends with some of the people there. They also knew though, that they had to leave the next day. One thing that Joyce had seen an orchid which had made her very excited. Joyce knew that orchid was usually purple and sometimes grew on trees. She also knew that they gave us oxygen. The orchid also helps with photosynthesis. She knew it was a producer and its predators were
Orchid
hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Joyce thought about this on the way home. That is a picture of an Orchid that Joyce took while there. When they were back at camp, Joyce thought about all the things that people were doing to the rainforest and how it was called ecotourism. She knew that when she got home she would conserve water, paper, and other things the rainforest gave us like, oxygen, water, food, and shelter. She also knew one very bad way we hurt the rainforest was to kill animals and eat them. She soon said goodnight to everyone and went to bed. The next morning she was the first one up. She got everything ready for her to leave and go home. When he was awake, Joyce thanked Marcos for everything he had shown them and taught her. Soon Marcos took Joyce and Linda back to the airport. They said their goodbyes.
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Once on the plane Joyce got out a piece of paper and some colored pencils and made three things a Climate map, Land cover map, and a food web. She was grateful that she got to see all of those organisms on her trip.
Food web Joyce made
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Climate map that Joyce made
Land cover map Joyce made
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On their journey Joyce and Linda learned about how to conserve the rainforest and how people everywhere are hurting it they are both going to help conserve it. Will you?
Citations http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/whlayers.html http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/camouflage http://www.unique-southamerica-travel-experience.com/amazon-rainforest-animals.html http://www.junglephotos.com/amazon/amplants/orchids/orchids.shtml http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://help.com/user-avatars/50/user-photo-273937673763.jpg&imgrefurl=http://help.com/user/273937viciousreality/shoutbox&usg=__XiBNeLntUQJUwV7tJx7k1_s4fJo=&h=300&w=300&sz=19&hl=en&start=0 &zoom=1&tbnid=7EUpYKr4Jr5IYM:&tbnh=154&tbnw=149&ei=r5WDTeLkK4qY0QHUPHBCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgolden%2Blion%2Btamarin%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive %26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D463%26tbs %3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=465&vpy=85&dur=263&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=93&ty=150& oei=r5WDTeLkK4qY0QHU-PHBCA&page=1&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0 http://www.google.com/imgres? imgurl=http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/28/2884/X69PD00Z/posters/a- spectacled-caimaneats-an-anaconda-in- venezuela.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.allposters.com/-sp/A-Spectacled-CaimanEats-an- Anaconda-in-Venezuela-Posters_i3993629_.htm&usg=__wXkMNo4tY9 _rYeKciLvIk438GvM=&h=300&w=400&sz=41&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=hH9jtfu_xzTAM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=226&ei=0BiGTY_tOoeU0QGayK3ECA&prev=/images% 3Fq%3Dcaiman %26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26rls% 3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26biw %3D1003%26bih%3D463%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs= 13
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Rainforest.net Spiderwebnet.net Pbase.net
News.bbc.co.uk
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