January 2012
THE AMAZON RAINFOREST There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more. ~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
The Amazing Birds of the Amazon More than 1500 bird species live in the Amazon rainforest. Most of the birds there are colorful and very exotic. People claim the birds have beautiful colors to compliment their vibrant surroundings. Many birds do not live in the forest year round but are just passing through, migrating from the South as well as the North. The species that receives the most notice when migrating is the Macaws, which gather by the hundreds, or even the thousands to eat minerals on the clay cliffs to even out their fruity diet. Macaws usually only gather in groups of ten to thirty, the sight of
so many Macaws together, so much color, movement, and sound is a magical experience people find hard to put into words. One species of exotic bird in the Amazon is the Spix’s macaw, which is very endangered and on its way to extinction. The Spix is the rarest bird in the world, and lives only in the rainforests. The Spix had come to symbolize the region and the people of the area where the last Spix in the wild was found. All the different species of beautiful birds in the Amazon should be protected so they will not meet the same fate as the Spix. ~Claire Schmit [1]
A Blue Macaw A blue Macaw flying along the clay cliffs.
WEATHER
Beautiful and Exotic Flowers in the rainforest do not need much sunlight to grow, as the understory of the forest is very shady and moist. Most flowers need a lot of water to thrive, which they receive in the rainforest. The bright colors of the flowers are used to attract birds to pollinate and disperse seeds, as well as add some color to the surrounding decor of greens and browns. One of the most delicate flowers in the rainforest is the Passion Flower. The passion is a vine flower and receives its name from its looks instead of its powers of passion. The yellow and red parts of the beautiful flower resemble the crown of thorns worn by Jesus in the Passion accounts in the Bible. Another beautiful flower in the rainforest is the heliconia
The rain forest as a whole, needs a lot of water to support plant and animal life and growth.  The rain forest its has 3 cm of rain per day, there is always one part of the rain forest that is raining.  For a whole year the rain forest gets about 200cm of rain. In this lush world of the forest, has rain fall every day  of its life. ~Theresa Narog
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wagerianna also known as lobster-claws. The flower is in a variety of colors, the most regular color pattern is bright red covering most of the bracts, with pale green along the top and yellow along the bottom. The wagerianna is related to the banana, like some of the other flowers in the heliconia family. The flower may resemble lobster claws, but that strangeness only adds to the exotic look of the wagerianna. There are as many as 1500 species of flowers in one foursquare mile of rainforest, so these flowers are only a sample of all the amazing and tropical flowers found in the rainforest. ~Claire Schmit
Dangers
There are many dangers that exist in the rain forest. Some of the plants and animals that live in the rain forest sometimes can kill the human being. In order to live in such an breathtaking place, you will need to be able to survive out in the wild. Even the bugs can cause problems to humans and animals that live in the rain forest. Some people may describe the rain forest to
THE AMAZON
be a beautiful kill zone. You should never enter the rain forest with out another person with you so if you do get hurt the other person can get help. One of the most popular cause of death in the rain forest is the crocodile. The crocodile is just one of the known dangers of the rain forest but the really the threat is the unknown dangers. Make sure you are will propared before entering the rain forest. ~Theresa Narog
Geography The rainforest has the second largest river in the world, this river is called the Amazon. The total area of the Amazon Rainforest is 8,511,965 sqkm. The rainforest takes up about a quarter of the country all by itself. ~Theresa Narog THE BEST GEAR IN THE WORLD
BOOTS!
WATER BOTTLE
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COMPASS
BACKPACK
What Makes Up a Rainforest
3,000 feet or longer. A plant in the forest that is sometimes The rainforest has thought to be a tree is bamboo, many layers of trees. The top which is a grass, and is edible. layer is the few trees that grow Fruits in the rainforest taller than the canopy, called the are not always edible. Some can emergent layer because the tall even be deadly. But the fruits trees emerge from the forest that are edible are usually sweet roof to take the full extremes of and addicting. The Pokenoboy the weather. These emergent and Hog Plum are favorites of trees are spread far from each the Mayans. The Pokenoboy is other, and can reach heights of a sweet fruit and easily retrieved up to 200 feet above the forest and very addicting, while the floor with trucks up to 16 feet Hog Plum is a sour plant that around. Most emergent trees can be eaten cooked or raw, are broad-leaved, hardwood and can be found everywhere. evergreens. The trees that ~Claire Schmit make up the canopy, sometimes called the roof of the forest, usually have the most animals living in the trees because the food is so abundant. Vines and lianas (which are woody vines) also hang out in the canopy. These vines can be as long as
Resources Some things can only be grown in the rainforest that we have a taste for like: papaya, passion fruit, okra, macadamia nuts, and guava. Many pharmaceuticals are derived from tropical plants found in the rainforest, like red dye, treatments for asthma, sedatives, and heart disease treatment. Of course there is always the woods, teak, rosewood, sandalwood, and
mahogany wanted for their exotic quality. Many plants are wanted for houseplants as well like the fiddle-leaf fig, and zebra plant to name only a few. Fibers, oils, gums and resins also come out of rainforests to make furniture, rope, fabric, perfumes, beverages, shampoos, flavorings, chewing gum, fuel, paints, and rubber. ~Claire Schmit
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The Layers of the Rainforest
THREE TRIBES
The Huli Tribe
The People of the Forest
of feathers and red, yellow, or black face-paint. The Yanomami were first contacted in 1950, and Often we get caught up since then their tribe has been in all the vegetation of the greatly effected by diseases rainforest that we forget its brought by people wanting to actually some people’s home. vacation at the Yanomami There are about 50,000,000 viliage. The tribe’s main food tribal people that are living in the source is plantain, which is a rainforests. type of banana. Now, as The Pygmies are very compared to then, there are social, having multiple dances significantly less indigenous and gatherings to keep in touch tribes still around today. Many with each other. The Pygmies have been completely wiped out are hunters and gatherers, by diseases brought by which is how the get their main Europeans that the tribes have source of food, fruit and meat. no immunity to. ~Claire Schmit The Huli hunt and gather also, but they also grow crops, their main source of food is yams and manioc. The Huli are very tall and for special occasions they wear crown out
History The Pygmie Tribe
During the Eocene era is the time when the rain forest was formed. The Amazon rain forest most likely was nearly 55
The Yanomami Tribe
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million years ago. When the humans came to live in the rain forest they effected the rain forest in a dramatic way. ~Theresa Narog