The Amazing Amazon

Did you know that 10% of the world's known species lives in the Amazon? That’s almost 870,000 different species! The Amazon is a Tropical Rainforest that spreads about 2.7 million miles wide across eight different countries. The Amazon Rainforest is by far the largest forest on Earth, and it even holds the largest river on Earth as well! According to Rainforest.Mongabay.com, “The Amazon is estimated to have 16,000 tree species and 390 billion individual trees!” That explains why over half of the animals in the Amazon live in the canopy (the mid layer in the trees). Animals that live in the rainforest have to be able to withstand the rain.The Amazon Rainforest is warm and humid - normally around 70-90 degrees fahrenheit (weather.com)- so it rains or storms almost every day there. So, you may be thinking, what kinds of animals live in the Amazon? Well, if you go there, then you may look around to see toucans and parrots cawing as they fly above you, anacondas and boa constrictors slithering up giant kapok trees, jaguars and pumas chasing wild deer running and dodging berry bushes, and rainbow colored poison dart frogs Leaping from lily pads to bromeliads.