Welcome to the Amazon. Enjoy your stay!
Learn more about:
Geography
History
Climate
Flora
Fauna
diversity
forest
water
problems
Culture
The
River
Pollution
Deforestation
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| Fauna - Life in the
Forest |
In an acre of the forest can be
thousands of insects, frogs, and spiders, each making their own sounds and chirps. For
smaller animals, looking for food isn't a big problem. Many insects feed plants or
decaying carcasses left over from a hunt of a jaguar or an ocelot (wild cat similar to the
jaguar). However, insects are prey to many animals; monkeys, anteaters, coatimundis,
spiders, and frogs all enjoy an occasional insect such as a termite or a grasshopper. For
this reason, insects have developed many techniques to escape predators.
Grasshoppers and katydids (insect similar to a grasshopper) have powerful hind legs that
allow them jump from place to place at incredible speeds. Many animals use to the
camouflage to remain unseen. A great number of animals, including insects, birds, and wild
cats, in the Amazon are able to blend into the background. Some animals have
mechanism that allow it to defend or attack. An example of such would be the
scorpion which can use its stinger to kill a prey or defend itself when under attack.
Monkeys try to stick to the trees. In the trees, they are able to quickly move about. When
on land, however, they can become targets for jaguars and other wild cats. Birds also use
this technique. They stick to the trees to find nuts, berries, and insects (larger birds
such as hawks prey on smaller birds and fish). Occasionally, they fly below the canopy of
the trees and to the forest floor to find food but can easily become food for other
animals such tarantulas the size of large paper plates or snakes such the anaconda.
As you can see, life in the jungle is a constant struggle between different animals,
predator and prey. These relationships were forged hundreds of thousands of years ago and
remain intact today. Predators and prey keep each other in check. When there are plentiful
prey, the predator population surges. Soon, there are more predators than prey and so the
predator population decreases while the prey increases and so the cycle continues. |
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