What is Amazon Rainforest?
The Amazon rainforest which also has several other names like the Amazon jungle or Amazonia is a moist forest in the Amazon biome of South America. This basin takes about 7,000,000 km2 area of which 5,500,000 km2 area covered by the rainforest. Amazon Rainforest areas are the territories to nine nations.
60% of the rainforest belongs to the Brazil territory, while Peru contains 13%, Columbia contains 10% while other countries like Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Bolivia, France, and Suriname contain smaller parts of the rainforest.
Flora and Fauna
The Amazon consists of over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests and is comprised of the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world. The amazons are estimated to have 390 billion individual trees and around 16,000 species.
The most species-rich biome is the wet tropical forests. Compared to the wet forests in Africa and Asia, the tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species-rich. The Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity and one in ten known species live in this rainforest. Therefore, Amazon rainforests constitute the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world.
Amazon Rainforest region consists of about 2.5 million insect species, 2000 birds and mammals and tens of thousands of plants. Various species have been scientifically classified in the region. There are:
- 40,000 plant species at least
- 2,200 fishes
- 1,294 birds
- 427 mammals
- 428 amphibians
- 378 reptiles
One in five of all bird species are found in the rainforest region, and we can find one in five of the fish species in the Amazonian rivers and streams.
The rainforest is also homes to some dangerous creatures like the jaguar, black caiman, cougar, and anaconda. We can also find electric eels who can produce electric shocks to stun or even kill you in the rivers of the rainforest. We can also find different species of poison dart frogs that can secrete lipophilic alkaloid toxins through the flesh. There are high risks of contracting the rabies virus, malaria, Dengue fever and yellow fever in the Amazon rainforest region.
Wildfire in Amazon Rainforest
Major wildfires are burning in the Amazon rainforest which has created some serious problems. Russia has suffered the most damage since more than 21,000 square miles of the forest has been burned in Siberia this month. The smoke from the rainforest has also created some hazards for nearby cities.
A wildfire occurred in the Canary Islands on the 19th of August, which forced more than 8,000 people to flee. New fires ignited in Alaska, which has become an unusually long fire season this year. Denmark dispatched firefighters to Greenland to fight a wildfire that is approaching the inhabited areas.