What Is The Rainforest????? By Adam H.

A book about the Amazon Rainforest

What place has the longest river in the world? What place covers 2.5 million miles? What place holds 2500 species of fish, 1500 species of birds, 1800 species of butterflies, 4 types of large cats, 200 species of mosquitos and 50,000 species of higher plants? It’s the Amazon Rainforest!!!!! The Amazon is so large it stretches into 9 countries which are; Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Here is a land coverage map of the rainforest.

A Rainforest is a tropical forest, usually of tall, densely growing, broad-leaved evergreen trees in an area of high annual rainfall, which

makes life easy for herbivores. It is located in the South Western hemisphere in Northern South America. It’s absolute location is 75w 45w 15s 0. The climate is an Equatorial Climate with an average temperature of 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is a climate map of the Amazon rainforest.

Emergent-4floor this layer is 200ft above the forest floor. Most trees there are ever greens.

Animals: Eagles, Monkeys, Bats and Butterflies.

Canopy -3floor, this layer forms a

roof over the other floors. It’s a maze of trees and leaves and the trees are oval shaped. Animals: Snakes, Toucans and Tree Frogs.

Understory-2 floor, this layer

gets almost no sunlight. Leaves here will grow up to 12ft.

Animals: Jaguars, Red Eyed Tree Frog, Leopards and insects.

Forest Floor-1 floor, this floor is

very dark so there are almost no plants. Plant here decompose in 6 weeks.

Animals: Large Ant Eaters and a lot of insects.

The rainforest is home to many species of plants and foliage. Here are 2 of the 50,000 plants that call the rainforest home. Not in this book but some plants in the rainforest don’t use photosynthesis.

The Camu Camu Plant is 2-3m tall, it’s a shrub, has large feathery leaves and makes bright orange light colored fruit the size of a lemon. It’s habitat is that it lives in the Amazon rainforest usually in flooded swampy areas. It’s only main predators are humans and is the greatest source of natural vitamin C in the world.

The Cocoa Tree is small, is 4-8 meters tall, it’s stem is straight, the wood is light and white, the bark is smooth and brown and the fruit is 15-25 cm in length and contains 30-40 seeds. It lives in hot rainy climates no more than 20 degrees north or south of the equator and it’s predators are mostly humans. The plant is used in chocolate and cocoa butter and powder.

The Amazon Rainforest is also home to many species of animals. Here are two I found interesting.

The Red Howler Monkey has a beard and long, thick hair which is either black, brown, or more commonly, red. They can sometimes be hunted for bush meat. The monkey is found in Tropical and Central South America. It’s Predators are the Harpy Eagle and the Jaguar. It’s a omnivore but eats mostly berries and leaves. The monkey has adaptations such as long, muscular tails and is furless for a better grip.

My second animal is the Scarlet Macaw. This bird has many different colors of feathers but most are red. It has 4 toes and are known for their loud cackles. It is found in the Emergent and Canopy Layer. This bird’s

predators that prey on this bird are monkeys, snakes and other large mammals. These birds are not picky eaters, they will eat any nut or berry found. They have a great beak for eating and climbing and their wings are very helpful to.

The Amazon Rainforest is also a home to many Nomadic and Indigenous tribes too.

The Yanomami tribe hunt and fish in wide ranged areas in harmony with the nature. They live in one large communal dwelling called a Shabono. The Yanomami tribe live in 100s of small villages grouped by the families. They

use the animals and some plants to feed their villages. Their culture believes that the spirit world and the real world are a unified force, that nature creates everything and is very sacred. They believe that their fate is linked to the nature’s fate. Their spiritual leader is named Shaman.

Their marriages are for forging alliances and peace between families. Most women have prearranged marriages.

The Huaorani tribe have no leadership unless in bad situations after that, the leader is relinquished of his position. They also speak a language like no other on Earth. Their respective living quarters consist of sub-settlements which are

located a 2 day walk away from each other. The hunters and gatherers live in small settlements surrounded by vegetable gardens in which they grow many plants. Their civilization travel down the river a long time ago to flee the “cannibals”. The Huarani tribe believes they are the only humans and that everyone outside their tribe is non-human.

Bacteria decomposer

Eats all dead organisms

Harpy Eagle Boa Constrictors

Consumer Carnivore Consumer Carnivore

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Red Howler Monkey Scarlet Macaw Consumer

Consumer Omnivore Omnivore

Camu Camu Cocao Tree

Producer Producer

In the rainforest people have created many means of travel, some of the ways these people travel are by foot, canoe and build roads. The human environment interaction has helped and destroyed the rainforest. Deforestation has taken away a lot of our rainforest but conservation has been used to preserve it.

The Rainforest is one of the most exotic places on Earth. Though, the world’s needs for paper has caused deforestation which is destroying are rainforest. Conservation can be used to save the animals habitat which is……

The Rainforest.