The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest on the planet. It’s a megadiverse geographic area delimited by the Amazon River basin , which is shared by at least 6 countries: Bolivia , Brazil , Colombia , Ecuador , Peru and Venezuela . Although some authors include 3 others: Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
Amazon Rainforest biodiversity facts – World Records
The Amazon Rainforest Animals biodiversity (or number of species) is greatest for small animals, such as insects , amphibians , reptiles , birds , and fish .
On the other hand, this diversity is lower for large animals with longer gestation periods, such as many terrestrial and aquatic mammals , which tend to be the most vulnerable and are threatened by human activities. Among them we find cats or felines such as the jaguar , aquatic mammals such as the pink dolphin, and equids such as the Amazonian tapir just to name a few.
Insects
Towards the second half of the 20th century, specialists worldwide estimated the total number of animal species at 1.5 million.
However, after visiting and studying the beetles of the humid forests of Central America and later of the Amazon, the curator of the department of entomology of the Smithsonian Institution Terry L. Erwin calculated in 1982 that in the world there must have been more than 30 million species counting only insects .
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Bullet ant (Paraponera clavata)
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Edible Insects of the Amazon Rainforest
Fish
With its more than 2,000 registered fish species, the Amazon basin exceeds the number of fish species in the entire European continent by more than 10 times.
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Ornamental fish
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Tilapia fish (Oreochromis sp.) Characteristics
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Llambina fish (Potamorhina altamazonica)
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Surubi Fish (Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum)
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Piraiba, Laulau catfish or Manitoa (Brachyplatystoma vaillantii)
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Lisa (Schizodon fasciatus)
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Sardine
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Bocachico fish (Prochilodus magdalenae)
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Paiche or pirarucu (Arapaima gigas)
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Amphibians
The Santa Cecilia region, in the Ecuadorian Amazon , boasts the highest number of amphibian species per square kilometer in the world. Amphibians include anurans such as toads or frogs, caecilians and newts. In the Amazon rainforest, the dart frogs stand out because of its deadly poison, but there are also introduced species such as the bullfrog, and other species of poisonous frogs such as the famous Kambo frog, which is considered the ayahuasca of the animal kingdom.
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Smoky jungle frog
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Glass-frog
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Cane Toad / Giant Toad (Rhinella marina)
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Kambo (Phyllomedusa bicolor)
Mammals
Peru, Colombia and Brazil are among the top 10 countries with the greatest biodiversity of mammal species on the entire planet.
In this group of animals we find emblematic species of the Amazon jungle such as the jaguar and the pink dolphin. But also other felines such as the ocelot, and other aquatic mammals such as the river manatee.
The existence of giant animals such as the giant armadillo, the capybara, chiguiro or capybara, which is the largest rodent in the world, the giant otter , never ceases to amaze us.
Another large subgroup within the mammals are the monkeys or primates , among which we find the famous marmoset monkey, the capuchin monkeys, the spider monkey, the howler monkeys among others.
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Huangana (Tayassu peccary): a species of white-lipped peccary.
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Agouti, Añuje or Guatusa (genus Dasyprocta spp.)
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Sajino, collared peccary or peccary peccary (Tayassu tajacu)
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Lowland Paca or Agouti Paca (Cuniculus paca)
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Giant Otter
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Capybara or chigüiro
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Marmoset monkey, squirrel monkey or pygmy marmoset
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Spider monkey
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Howler Monkey
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The Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis)
Birds
In the Tambopata reserve in Peru they hold the world record for the greatest diversity of bird species in the same place. Some of the bird species found there are:
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Orinoco Goose
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Horned screamer
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Fulvous Whistling duck
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Black-banded woodcreeper (Dendrocolaptes picumnus)
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Yellow-rumped cacique
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Andean Cock-of-the-rock – Amazon Rainforest Birds
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Emerald hummingbird / Emerald chiribiquete
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Castelnau’s antshrike
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The Curassow from the Amazon Rainforest
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Amazonian Royal flycatcher
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Scissor-tailed hummingbird
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Yellow-headed Parrot (Alipiopsitta xanthops)
Reptiles
The city if Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, holds the world record for the greatest diversity of reptile species ever documented. This group includes the turtles, the snakes and the famous alligators of the Amazon Rainforest, the yacaré, the white and the black.
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Charapa or arrau turtle (Podocnemis expansa)
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Jesus Christ (Basilisk) Lizard
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Fer-de-Lance/Terciopelo Snake (Bothrops asper)
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Yacaré Caiman – Another Amazonian crocodile
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Crocodile or White Caiman
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Black Caiman – A rare crocodile species
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Spiders
Arachnids are not insects as we might think. Spiders form a separate group of animals including the dreaded scorpions.
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Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) Giant Spider
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Scorpion Tityus Trivittatus
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Banana Spider, or Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer)
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Bibliography
- de Santana, CD, Crampton, WG, Dillman, CB, Frederico, RG, Sabaj, MH, Covain, R., … & Bastos, DA (2019). Unexpected species diversity in electric eels with a description of the strongest living bioelectricity generator. Nature communications , 10 (1), 1-10.
- Costa, TND, Jacó, TRF, Casas, ALDS, & Bernarde, PS (2020). Injuries caused by fish to fishermen in the Vale do Alto Juruá, Western Brazilian Amazon. Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine , 53 .
- Cerrón, LAS, Ramos-Rodríguez, MC, Ruiz, LCJ, Chávez, JD Á., & Torres, RJV (2019). Contribution to the knowledge of the electric eel (Electrophorus electricus Linneo, 1776) in the Itaya River, Loreto, Peru. Amazon Science (Iquitos) , 7 (1), 127-136.
- Archer, R. (2016). Stunning supers with an electric attack. Journal of Experimental Biology , 219 (5), 612-612.
- Catania, KC (2015). Electric eels concentrate their electric field to induce involuntary fatigue in struggling prey. Current Biology , 25 (22), 2889-2898.
- Lourenco, W.R. (2005). Scorpion diversity and endemism in the Rio Negro region of Brazilian Amazonia, with the description of two new species of Tityus CL Koch (Scorpiones, Buthidae). Amazoniana , 18 (3-4), 203-13.
- Gómez, JP, Quintana, JC, Arbeláez, P., Fernández, J., Silva, JF, Barona, J., … & Otero, R. (2010). Scorpion stings Tityus asthenes in Mutatá, Colombia: epidemiological, clinical and toxinological aspects. Biomedical , 30 (1), 126-139.
- Javier, CA, & Bermudez, RV (1980). Snake bites-toxicity and laboratory studies. Rev Med Hond , 48 (2), 39-42.
- Castro, O., Gutiérrez, JM, Barrios, M., Castro, I., Romero, M., & Umaña, E. (1999). Neutralization of the venom-induced hemorrhagic effect of Bothrops asper (Serpentes: Viperidae) by tropical plant extracts. Journal of Tropical Biology , 47 (3), 605-616.
- López Sáez, JA, & Pérez Soto, J. (2009). Alexiteric plants: plant antidotes against poisonous snake bites.
Daniel Osorio holds a BA in Social Communication with a mention in Communication for Humanistic Development (Universidad de Los Andes, 2005). Film and TV director and screenwriter. Specialist in Digital Marketing (SEO, SEM, Adwords, Adsense). General Manager (CEO) at DMT Agency. He is the founding editor of the portal delamazonas.com among others.
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