Rainforest: Amazon

By: Erin e. Block 1

Ever wonder what the Amazon Rainforest REALLY is? Well, if you want to know, then read on! I have all the facts in one book that you can find in, like, 15 to 20 different websites. The rainforest is a tall, dense jungle. It’s called a rainforest because it rains a lot. It is full of lots of animals and tribes. Read to find out lots about a few of these tribes, plants, and animals!

Location: The location of the Amazon Rainforest is South America. It takes up most of the continent. It is located in three hemispheres. They are Northern, Southern, and Western. The latitude and longitude range is 75 degrees and 45 degrees. The latitude range is o degrees and 15 degrees.

The Amazon is located in many countries of South America. Nine out of the thirteen countries contain at least a mile or so of the Amazon. These countries consist of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and the French Guiana.

Plants: Many plants live in the rainforest. Almost half the earth’s animals

and plants live in the Amazon. I only know a lot about two plants and animals. I’ll tell you about the animals

next… it’s the plants turn right now.

Plant 1: Bromeliads

Bromeliads have large leaves and that contain water. They are huge plants. They live on other trees foliage, or leaves and bark. They usually grow on trees in the understory or canopy. Beetles and other bugs are its only predator, or something that uses its

energy to fuel itself. Plant 2: Liana

Lianas are woody, climbing vines that start growing at the forest floor. They wrap around a tree as they grow. Its habitat, or the place the plant or animal lives in, is the forest floor to the canopy. It has no predators because it

is really hard to brake. It may seem that it has no good use but it comes in uses if you get lost in the Amazon. Break it open and TADA!!!! You have water to drink.

Animals:Ok!!! The plants had their turn… it’s time for the animals to show what their capable of! Now you’ll hear me herbivore and carnivore. But there’s a third in this series. The word is omnivore. Omnivore means animal that eats both plants and animals. You will learn about herbivore and carnivore right now.

Animal 1: Jaguar This wild animal is 6 foot in length and 3 feet tall. It has a black spotted coat. His fur is brown under his spots. His habitat is on

the forest floor. His only predators are humans who shoot them and some tribes that eat them. This wild man-eating creature has 85 different species of prey, or animals or plants an animal eats. These include Armadillos, Peccaries, Capybara, Tapir, Deer, Squirrels, Birds, and even some bugs!!! They are animals called carnivores, or animals that eat only other animals. Its adaptations or ways it fits in nature are padded feet for silent walking. It also contains camouflage, or ways it can blend in with trees and grass. He has his spots.

Animal 2: Macaw This amazing creature has a small curved beak. This colorful bird has

many colors on it. Some other Macaws are blue. They are large animals. Their habitat is the canopy. Their predators eat only their kind’s eggs. They include

Harpy eagles, Toucans, Purplish jays, and White-eared possums. They eat nuts, and fruits. They are herbivores, or animals that eat only plants. Their adaptations are tough tongues and beaks to break the shells of the nuts they eat.

Layers: By now, you’re probably wondering what the forest floor and the canopy is. I have mentioned them throughout my plants and animals. Well, even if you can infer that the forest floor is the bottom of the forest, you still don’t fully understand and don’t understand what the canopy is. There are four MAIN layers of the Amazon. They are the forest floor, understory, canopy, and emergent layer. The forest floor is the lowest layer. It is mainly dark and contains almost no plants. Only few animals live all the way down here.

Some organisms, or living things, that live down here are Giant Anteaters, and, as I already said, Jaguars. The understory is the layer above the forest floor. It gets little sunlight so it grows large leaves to absorb as much as it can. Some animals that live here are Red-eyed tree frogs, and Leopards. The canopy is next. It is right above the understory. It is a roof for the other two layers. This layer is why the other layers get so little light. Some organisms that live here are Snakes, Toucans, and Tree frogs. Finally, the last level of the rainforest is the Emergent layer. It is the tippy top where only the tallest trees emerge. The trunks of these trees are 16 feet around. Some organisms that live in this layer are mostly things that fly like eagles, monkeys, bats (at night), and butterflies. The monkey is the only animal that is not able to fly that lives up in the

emergent layer.

Food web:

Food webs show what animal is eaten by what and what animal eats

what. This is the food

web. I have 6 consumers, 1 decomposer or animal that gets energy from eating dead organisms, and 3 producers or plants that use the sun, rain, and carbon dioxide in a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants make their own food.

Tribes:Tribe 1: Yanomami

The Yanomami people are indigenous, or born, in South America. The Yanomami girls marry very young. Kind of like what we did in the 1960s. They have to types of tribes. They are the river people and the forest people. The river people, as you can guess, live by the river. They fish and eat only what they can catch. The forest people live in the forest. They hunt better then the river people. But they can’t fish as well. The Yanomami village is set up several miles away from each other. If you were to walk from one to the next, it would take from an hour up to 10 days!!! They have hundreds of small villages throughout the Amazon. They live on a shabono disc-shaped structure. The population is 40 people to 300 people.

The whole village lives in one big house called a yano or xapona. The house is stationed on the shabono. They have many traditions in their culture, or way someone or something lives. They fight often with the neighboring villages. So, many of the villages have fierce warriors. The natural and spiritual world is a unified force that they follow. To them their fate is humanity to the environment. It is also committing suicide. Their spiritual leader is Shaman. They dress very symbolic and decretive. The boys really just wear a string around the waist. They eat a big verity of food. These the meats are snake, wild pigs, monkeys, deer, jaguars, insects, larvae, fish, and crabs. Others that they eat include wild honey, plantation, sweet potatoes, and palm fruits.

Tribe 2: Witoto

The Witoto tribe is original. They, like the forest people, hunt for their food and for survival. They use log signal drums to tell if danger is near. To kill their pray and get food, they use shotguns, and blowguns, or guns that contain darts that put you to sleep. In one village each family has their own house. These houses are called communal houses. They are very smart. They can make many medicines out of the forest resources. As I said before they hunt for survival. They are very skilled, if they go to battle and win; they celebrate by eating the meat of people they kill. Then they use the bones for crafts, like necklaces and bracelets. They dress in grasses and paint their bodies.

Human-environment interactions Q: How does the environment affect us humans? A: Well, oxygen, for example. 20% of the world’s oxygen comes from the rainforest. So the more we people cut down, the less oxygen were going to have. The less we have the more we can’t breathe.

Q: What types of products do we get from the Amazon? A: Well, we get wood (of course), rubber (amazing right!!) from trees, medicine from the whole rainforest, and chocolate from coco trees.

Q: How do humans affect the environment? A: well, one way is deforestation, or when humans cut down trees from the rainforest. 150,000 sq kilometers of forest was lost in May 2000- August 2006. You can help by recycling. This is called conservation, or when humans help save the rainforest in the biggest and littlest was, and even the ones in between. Another way to help is to help expand the areas that are blocked and you aren’t allowed to cut down. And then there’s

Ecotourism, or when people don’t care about the rainforest or how to save it. One example is when they have boat tours, oil leaks from the boat and into the water witch animal’s drink and fish live.

Movement: You know how I was talking about tribes, or people of the rainforest? Well, you are probably wondering how they get around. Well, yeah, you got by walking but what how else do you think they get around? Huh? Huh? Huh? Well, the people that live by the river travel by boat. They also can build roads. Another way is by trading. One thing they trade is wives. Like, you and I are Yanomami people. I need rubber but don’t have any. You do. If I need it bad enough, I will get a girl from my community and give her to you as a wife for the rubber. So the

movement is a lot more complicated then you think.

Physical features: The climate, or temperature, of the Amazon is mild. Here is some information on the Amazon climate.The average temperature is 79°. The climate zone is warm and humid. The average rainfall is about 9 feet each year. 50% returns to the atmosphere through the foliage of the trees. Most is from snowmelt in the Peruvian Andes.

The end: I’ve mentioned many different things in my book. They all fit together. If ten years ago, rainforest covered 14% of the world and, now, only 6% is left, how long till’ all of it is gone? 15, 10, 5 years?!?!?! If deforestation keeps happening, what will we lose? We’ll lose medicine, oxygen, and coco. Also, we would lose fruits and plants and animals. All our friends that I told you about, they will all die! Can you help? Will you help?

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