Into the Depths of the Amazon
Fauna
Within the Amazon live over a million different species of animals including mammals, birds, insects, and spiders. Most of the diversity lies in the insect world. However, dozens of animals of becoming extinct everyday.
Animal Diversity
Contained within the boundaries of the Amazon are over a million different species of
animals ranging from jaguars to monkeys to tarantulas. There are over 500,000
species of insects and spiders alone. The diversity of animals in the Amazon is unlike
that of any part of the world. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of species in
the Amazon have not as of yet been scientifically classified.
As mentioned earlier, the vast majority of the animals are insects and spiders. This is
due to natural selection. When insects and spiders first evolved in the Amazon, they were
few in numbers but as time went by, insects and spiders entered different habitats within
the Amazon and adapted to that environment. Soon, insect and spider species were so
different that they could not interbreed (A species is defined as a group of organisms
that can reproduce with fertile offspring.). This is called adaptive radiation.
Alfred Wallace, British scientist, noticed this on his trip to the Amazon. From
this he would develop the theory of natural selection. Charles Darwin developed the same
theory but published it earlier. Many other animals have undergone adaptive radiation in
the Amazon and the list include birds, wild cats, and primates.
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.
Life in the Water
Life in the water is pretty similar to life on land. Water bodies are their own
ecosystems and, like in the forest, animals must compete with each other to survive.
However, different types of animals will be seen at different types of water bodies. Along
the Amazon River and its tributaries exist many types of fish including the infamous
piranhas. These rivers carry many freshwater fish because all the water that the rivers
drain from the Amazon Basin are carrying rainwater. These fish are targets or many animals
such as hawks, anacondas, dolphins, otters, alligators (caiman), and piranhas.
Although the Amazon River is known notoriously for its piranhas, there are other dangers
that lurk in the river and its tributaries. Snakes such as the anaconda can grow to
be very large and are capable of suffocating victims as large as human and swallowing them
whole. Another hazard in the waters is a small catfish called candiru. These fish are
about 2 cm long and are the only vertebrate parasites. They can attack other fish, mammals
such as dolphins, manatees, and humans, and other animals. Frogs exist along the banks of
freshwater lakes. Many of these frogs are poisonous and are capable of crippling even the
largest animals.
Besides fish, snakes, and amphibians, mammals exist in the water too. Pink dolphins
are known to scour the Amazon River looking for food. Otters live more closer to slow
moving rives and manatees (sea cows) live in open lakes in groups looking for vegetation
to feed on.
Problems for the Animals
With recent development in the Amazon Basin region, many animals have been left without
homes. Some have found it hard to survive while others have gone extinct. One of the major
problems in the Amazon region is deforestation. Loggers, companies, and other interests
are taking down trees to make lumber, farms and cattle ranches. By doing so, they are
destroying forests in which thousands of animals used to flourish. Also, as cities begin
to grow, the forest are one place they can almost endlessly expand into. There are hardly
any physical boundaries in the Amazon Basin restricting people from expanding
further.
Also due to the advent of large cities such as Belem and Manaus in the upper Amazon Basin,
companies and big business have arrived. Many companies have set up factories, mines,
rubber tapping from rubber trees, and large scale fishing. Although they employ many
people, they are also destroying the Amazon. They are expanding into areas untouched by
humans before. Pollution from these large scale operation is hurting animals who
call the Amazon home.
Another big problem is poachers. Poachers kill animals for certain parts of their bodies.
In the Amazon, jaguars and other wild cats are now listed as endangered species because
poachers, in the past, hunted these wild cats for their skins. Other animals hunted
include otters, pink dolphins (pink dolphin skin is pink and prized among many poachers),
and manatees.