Today, when people talk about America, they often mean the United States. But the name covers a far greater area of the world then that. We, team 27257, have specially chosen the name Americas to represent both the continents and to prevent any misconceptions.

In North America, there are the temperate rainforests, in the South, there are the tropical rainforests. The temperate rainforests in the North are not famous but almost everybody in the world would have come across the name "Amazon".

In the Amazon rainforest, forest life abounds at every level. The harpy eagle nests in the tallest trees and hunts birds, monkeys, and sloths. Swinging through the lower branches, the grey woolly monkey uses its tail to grip. But this is gradually being destroyed. The Amazon Basin once dense, is now rapidly being opened up. The land is being developed for oil, mining, and farming. The Indian inhabitants are being dispossessed and pushed into ever smaller areas, while hundreds of animals and plants are being destroyed.