Amazon Rainforest Facts
- The Amazon
rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, covering over five
and a half a million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres).
- Over half of the
Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil but it is also located in other South
American countries including Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana,
Bolivia, Suriname and French Guiana.
- 10% of the world’s
known species live in the Amazon rainforest.
- 20% of the world’s
bird species live in the Amazon rainforest.
- It is home to around
2 and a half million different insect species as well as over 40000 plant
species.
- There are also a number of dangerous species living in the Amazon rainforest such as the cougar, jaguar and anaconda.
- In both 2005 and
2010 the Amazon rainforest suffered severe droughts that killed off large
amounts of vegetation in the worst affected areas.
- A recent study by
climate change experts suggests that a 3 °C rise in world temperatures by the
year 2010 would destroy around 75% of the Amazon
- The Amazon River runs through Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru.