Well, a rainforest is a usually wet location with tons of animals and plants living there. It also has very tall trees with a lot of species. The Amazon Rainforest is located in South America. To be more specific, it is in the NW and SW hemispheres. Also, the longitude and latitude is 0-15 South to 45-75 West. The average climate is very warm and rainy. The average rainfall in the Amazon is around 400 inches per year! The temperature in the day is around 80 degrees. The countries that the Amazon is located in are Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and the French Guiana. The largest part is located in Brazil. These are the basics about what a rainforest is and where it’s located. But, we still have more to go. Now let’s move on to animals!
The toucan is often found in the canopy. It’s one of the most well-known birds in the Amazon Rainforest. One of the toucan’s adaptations is its beak. Its long beak helps it reach into the trees to find fruit and grab the fruit. The toucan also eats bird eggs, insects, rodents, and weaker birds. All of these would be the toucan’s prey. This means the toucan is an omnivore because it eats both plants and animals. The only predators of this bird are humans and big cats, especially the jaguar.
The strawberry dart frog is a poisonous insectivore. The bright colors warn predators to stay away from it; this is one of its adaptations. This frog doesn’t have to worry about being camouflaged because its colors scare animals away.
However, there is one
predator of this frog - the liophis epinephelus. This snake can consume this frog and withstand the poison. The strawberry dart frog eats some spiders, but mostly insects. This means this frog is a carnivore. This frog lives on the forest floor.
The orchid is one of the most beautiful and colorful flowers in the world. Also, there are over five hundred species in the Amazon area. They have thick leaves and vivid colors. Orchids usually grow near trees. Their location helps them maintain the sunlight they need to grow by. Therefore, the orchid also lives in the canopy. This flower is picked and used sometimes as presents and also as decorations. We also get vanilla beans out of pods that are part of the orchid, and it is used in ice cream and cakes. Like many other plants, the orchid uses photosynthesis to grow.
Bamboo is a type of plant that has hollow stems. The most well-known animal that eats bamboo is the panda. One characteristic bamboo has is that once it is planted, it starts to spread and multiply. This is why bamboo is so hard to get rid of. Also, bamboo can be used for daily life, such as fencing, flooring, building houses, and much more. Bamboo is found and grown on the forest floor. Bamboo is indigenous to China.
This is a basic web of how energy transfers within the Amazon. As you can see, the bamboo and orchid are the producers. Then, the frog, beetle, ant, and panda eat the producers, which make them consumers. As we go further, we see the toucan and alligator; in this food web, they are at the top. However, the pandas are becoming extinct. One reason is because their main source of food, bamboo, is being cut down. This is called deforestation. The panda is an herbivore, the alligator is a carnivore, and last but not least, the worm is a decomposer. All of these animals are organisms.
The Yanomami tribe is located between the borders of Peru and Colombia. They have lived there for about 50,000 years! In fact, David Yanomami, one of the Amazon's most respected "Page" or Medicine men, predicts that if we do not stop our destruction of our Earth, we are doomed to extinction, right along with the rainforest and the Yanomami. This tribe has more members than the rest of the other tribes. They hunt and find food to eat and medicine to cure sickness. Gold miners are coming into where the Yanomami live and bringing diseases with them, polluting the water, and hurting their environment too. This is the most knowledgeable and superior tribe in the world. Also, this tribe is very artistic and is said to be the most primitive because they don’t have anything to do with the outside world. Around every three or four years, the Yanomami move to a new place, looking for rich soil to plant and grow their crops on.
The Tikuna tribe is located in the Brazilian rainforest. There are over seventy established places for the homes of the Tikuna. They have been living in the rainforest for over four hundred years. They have learned to cope with the supplies they have and live off of them. They hunt in the forest for their food and medications. They have found a ton of medications for their families to use during sickness. Living off the land would be considered to be their unique culture. Some of the people in this tribe are nomadic. This means the spot in the tribe they have isn’t permanent. This tribe has also been believed to be the most creative in basket-making. This tribe’s first contact with the outside world was in 1532. They have more than 20,000 members.
The very top of the rainforest is called the emergent layer. This is where the foliage of the trees is. Some of the trees in this layer can be as tall as 200 feet! Some animals that live in the emergent layer are hummingbirds, eagles, bats, butterflies, and monkeys. The next layer is called the canopy. This is where some leaves, but mostly tree stems, are. The leaves are so broad and dense that they keep out 80% of sunlight! This is also where the toucan lives. Tons of other birds live in this layer too. Other animals living in this layer are butterflies, monkeys, parrots, sloths, tree frogs, jaguars and leopards. The next layer is the understory. This layer has dense vines; because of this, only about 2-5% of sunlight gets through to this layer. Monkeys, sloths, jaguars, and leopards also spend time in the understory. Insects have their habitat in this layer too. In fact, the majority of insects live in this layer. Finally, the bottom is the forest floor. This is where few plants grow; however, there is some wildlife there. A couple of these animals are anteaters, beetles, frogs, snakes, and lizards. There is very little sunlight, and it is also very damp with a lot of decomposers.
At this point, the rainforest may seem like a great place to visit, and it is indeed! It does, however, have some problems we need your help to fix! One of these things is deforestation. This means people are cutting down trees and killing trees as tourism increases. Conservation and ecotourism are both great ways to save the rainforest. The rainforest is a big part of what gives us oxygen; therefore, we need to save it! The rainforest used to cover 14% of the earth; now it only covers 6%. If we keep on destroying the rainforest, it will destroy us too.
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