The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world. In this report, you will learn about its trees and animals, environmental concerns, size and location, soil and cool facts about the Amazon rainforest.

Size and Location

The Amazon rainforest is found in South America. It covers around 1.2 billion acres. The average temperature is 27 Celsius. The Amazon usually gets 9 feet of rain each year, and five percent of that rain returns to the atmosphere.

Plants and Animals

The Amazon rainforest has the largest variety of plants and animals in the world. It is home to over 1500 bird species, 3000 fish species, including the piranha which surprisingly, it only bites humans when its very hungry, 30000000 insect species such as ants and butterflies, and 175 lizard species, 300 reptile species and 500 mammal species.

Some of the mammals are the howler monkey, which can be heard up to three miles away! Talk about noisy! Another animal is the giant anteater. It doesn’t have teeth, but it can eat up to 35 000 ants and termites a day!

Many of the animals use camouflage to blend in to its surroundings, like the three-toed sloth, for example. A light layer of algae grows over its fur, so it can blend into the trees.

The trees can grow up to 165 feet. Did you know that half of the world’s species of trees are in the Amazon? Since there are so many trees, only 2% of sunlight hits the bottom of the floor.

Some of the other plants that grow are Brazil nuts, cocoa, peppermint, and tarragon. There are around 3000 different fruits that grow in the Amazon such as pineapple, papaya, mango, and passion fruit.

Soil

The bottom of the rain forest floor is very dark and humid. It is also very infertile. Instead of it being covered in grass, the bottom is covered in 7.5 cm. of rotting leaves, twigs and dead flowers.

Facts about the Amazon

Did you know:

• The Amazon rainforest produces twenty percent of the world oxygen? That’s why the Amazon has the nickname, ‘The Lungs of the Planet.’
• One fifth of the world water is found in the Amazon basin?
• If the Amazon rainforest was a country, it would be the ninth largest country in the world?
• Every day, we lose 137 plants, animal and insect species? That equals up to around fifty thousand species a year!
• Every second, one and a half acres of rainforest are lost?
• Back in 1950, fifteen percent of the world’s surface was covered in rainforests? Now, half of that is completely gone.
• One pond in Brazil can have a greater variety of fish than in all of Europe’s rivers?
• The number of species of fish in the Amazon is even more than the number found in the entire Atlantic Ocean?

Environmental Concerns

The Amazon rainforest is currently being destroyed. People are cutting down trees and raising cattle and growing crops for food. Many people are also mining for gold. Luckily, 250 000 000 acres of forest have already been put to conservation, but if we don’t do more to help the crashing rainforest, fifty five percent of it could be gone by 2030!

Renewable Resources

All of the Amazon’s resources are being destroyed. If managed properly, the rainforest can provide the world’s need for these natural resources. Promoting the use of these renewable sources could stop the destruction of the rainforests. By creating a new source of income harvesting the plants, fruits nuts, oil and other resources, the rainforests is be more valuable alive than cut and burned.