The Awesome Amazon

By: Abbey P.-Block 5

IntroductionDo you know what a rainforest is? How about where the Amazon Rainforest is located? Well I will tell you. A rainforest is tall and dense forest that receives a high amount of rainfall each year. The Amazon Rainforest is huge! It is in three hemispheres. They are the Northwestern and the Southwestern hemispheres. The latitude that boxes in the Amazon Rainforest is 45˚ west to 75˚ west and 0˚ to 15˚ south. The Amazon Rainforest is so big that it is located in nine different countries. Those countries are Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Tons of organisms live in the Amazon Rainforest. As you can see, the Amazon Rainforest is a very big place.

Climate Map

Land Cover Map

Physical FeaturesThe climate of the Amazon Rainforest is very hot and wet. The average temperature is 79˚farenhiet. The average rainfall is 9 feet per year. That is a lot of rain! The Amazon Rainforest is located in the tropical climate zone. The Amazon Rainforest is a tropical place.

LayersThere are four main layers in the Amazon Rainforest. They are the Emergent Layer, the Canopy, the Understory, and the Forest Floor. The Emergent Layer is the top layer. Only the tallest trees live there. The Emergent Layer towers 200 feet above the Forest Floor, so sunlight is plentiful. A type of tree that grows there are evergreens. Some of the animals that live there are eagles,

monkeys, bats, and butterflies. The layer below the Emergent Layer is the Canopy. The Canopy forms a roof over the two layers that are below it. Also, food is abundant there. Some plants that grow there are epiphytic plants and vines. The trees there have a lot of foliage. Some of the animals that live there are snakes, toucans, and tree frogs. The layer that is under the Canopy and above the bottom layer of the Amazon Rainforest is the understory. Little sunlight reaches the Understory and the plants that live there seldom grow up to 12 feet. A large number of insects grow there. Some plants that grow there are vines and broadleaf trees. Animals that live there are jaguars, red-eyed tree frogs, and leopards. The bottom layer of the Amazon Rainforest is the Forest Floor. As you can imagine, the Forest Floor gets very little sunlight. Also, things decay slowly. The plants that grow there are moss and ferns. Some of the animals that live in the Forest Floor are giant anteaters and anacondas. Now you know the layers of the Amazon Rainforest.

The Water Lily

The Water Lily is a plant that varies in size. Although a Water Lily that is big is light weight. They are found in lakes and calm waters.

Believe it or not, some Indian tribes used to use the roots of the plant to make flour! We do not

do that anymore. The only predator the

Water Lily has is the snail, which is an herbivore. Water Lilies use the process of photosynthesis to

make its own food. The Water Lily is a very beautiful and fascinating plant.

The Kapok TreeThe Kapok Tree is one of the tallest trees in the Amazon Rainforest. It can grow up to more 150 feet tall. It is located in the Emergent Layer of the Amazon Rainforest. The Kapok Tree is home to many things including other plants that need sunlight. They Kapok Tree, like many plants in the Amazon Rainforest, are producers. This tree is very important to some tribes that live in the Amazon Rainforest. It

is

because they make canoes out of the Kapok Tree. Nothing eats the Kapok Tree. I know that I said that the Kapok Tree was tall but did you know that it is one of the tallest trees in the world?

The AnacondaThe Anaconda is one of the fiercest animals that live in the Amazon Rainforest. The Anaconda is long and heavy. It is green with black spots. The Anaconda lives in streams, rivers

and swamps. They like to be in water most of the time. Anacondas live on the Forest Floor. Nothing eats the Anaconda; they are at the top of the food chain. The only thing that would eat it is a decomposer and that would be after it is already dead. They eat deer, wild pigs and large rodents. Anacondas are carnivores. Some adaptations they have are that they swim gracefully, and it can get up trees quickly. Those adaptations help Anacondas a lot.

The Red-Eyed TreeRed-Eyed Tree Frogs are thought to be poisonous because of red eyes. The truth is that they are not. Most Red-

Eyed Tree Frogs are green and of course all have bulging red eyes. They also have orange, webbed feet. They

use camouflage to hide from predators. Red-Eyed Tree Frogs live in trees in the Understory or Canopy. The habitat of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog is very wet. Predators of Red-Eyed Tree Frogs are birds and snakes. Red-Eyed Tree Frogs eat crickets, flies,

moths and some plants. Red-Eyed Tree Frogs are omnivores. A couple things that help Red-Eyed Tree Frogs are that they use their eyes to stun predators

for just enough time to get away, and they have good eyesight so they can catch prey easier. Red-Eyed Tree Frogs maybe small but they have quite

an appetite.

The Yanomami Tribe

The Yanomami Tribe is just one of the many of the indigenous tribes that live in the Amazon Rainforest. The Yanomami tribe is a fierce tribe. There

are many wars that have to do with the tribe. Although they are fierce, they are very successful. They use trade to get supplies they need. The Yanomami Tribe also uses pre-arranged marriages with people from other tribes so they can keep peace with them. The Yanomami Tribes villages are grouped together by family. The live in a large, disc-shaped hut called a Shabono. A Shabono is an earthly version of their god’s abode. They use the resources of the Amazon Rainforest wisely. Some examples are that they use animals, such as monkeys, for food and they use trees to make canoes and for lumber. They make canoes by burning out the insides of the tree, making it hollow. The Yanomami Tribe eats fish, peppers, beans, manioc and some meats. They believe that the natural and spiritual worlds are a unified force. Also they believe that nature creates everything and the fate of mankind is linked to the fate of nature. They call their spiritual leader a shaman. The Yanomami Tribe has a lot of piercings of the face and most of the time they wear no clothes. One of the main traditions they have is that they burn their dead.

The Matis TribeThe Matis Tribe is a very

interesting tribe. They live to be like the jaguar and to praise the jaguar. The Matis Tribe only has 300 people in the tribe so they only have two villages in the Amazon Rainforest.

The names of those two villages are the Aurelio and the Beija Flor. There are a few huts that the Matis Indians built at each village. The Matis Tribe uses trade to get four-meter blow guns which make it easier for them to kill animals. Also they use the poison from poisonous plants to make poison-darts that they shoot at their prey. They love to eat fish and that is what they use the lakes for. The culture of the Matis Tribe celebrates many animals. For example, they have The Ritual of Capybara which is musical. Another one is The Poison Frog Ceremony. This ceremony is colorful and some people burn off parts of their skin and put poison into the wound. The Matis Tribe eats fish and horticultural foods. They believe that frog poison makes them better hunters. Most of the elders of the Matis Tribe wear nothing, but they all have tattoos and facial ornamentation so they look like a jaguar.

The Matis Tribe lives to celebrate the jaguar. Along with them, there are many other indigenous and nomadic tribes in the Amazon Rainforest.

What’s going on in the Amazon Rainforest?

The Amazon Rainforest is a beautiful and useful place. From it we get lumber, food, and the most important thing, oxygen. Some people are trying to conserve the Amazon Rainforest. That is hard to do though due to deforestation. We are losing some natural resources that we may need desperately in the future. Now with ecotourism, people can tour the rainforest without damaging it. Another thing going on in the Amazon Rainforest is cattle ranching. This is where people are cutting out places in the rainforest and putting cattle there. We need to help save the rainforest because if it disappears, we might die. Also people are cutting roads out in the Amazon Rainforest. People get around the rainforest by canoeing and walking. Also they exchange many ideas and goods with each other. That is very important to the people that live in the Amazon Rainforest.

ConclusionOver 50% of the world’s animals live in the

Amazon Rainforest. Almost 20% of the oxygen we breathe comes from the Amazon Rainforest. If the rainforest keeps getting destroyed, not only will plants and animals die, but we could die too. Do you want that to happen? What are you going to do?

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