Amazon Fauna

Animals are hard to find in the dense jungle growth. Our set of pictures is by no means exhaustive, since some estimate that 40% of all the world’s species live in Amazonia. One of our speakers estimated than in a single 6 square kilometer plot, one might find 2500 types of flowering plants, 3000 types of trees/bushes, 100 types of reptiles (snakes!), 60 types of amphibians (frogs), 400 types of birds, 150 types of butterflies and tens of thousands of insects.

Why is the Amazon so rich in plant and animal life? The main reason is that there is no stress. The temperature doesn’t vary much between summer and winter and day and night. There’s no drought. There’s no frost.

Here’s our small collection. Picture 1 shows a fisherman with a recent catch. Fish is the mainstay of the local diet. Many fishermen feel they can comfortably survive catching 10 fish like this per day.

Can you find the iguana in Picture 2? We spotted this in a tree as we sailed along one of the Amazon’s tributaries.

Picture 3 shows a Tiger Heron that we spotted when we walked in the canopy on a boardwalk.

On that same walk, we spotted the monkey in Picture 4.

While canoeing in the “back waters” of the Amazon, we spotted the nasty-looking spider in picture 5. It was about 4 inches in diameter.

The howler monkey in Picture 6 was way up in the tree, so the picture isn’t as good as we would like. And, yes, they howl very loudly.

We spotted the butterfly in Picture 7 as we hiked through the jungle. Our guide held it and then released it to fly away.

Picture 8 shows our only snake. It’s the venomous Parrot Snake and it caused one of our guides to quickly jump in the air to sidestep it (and then he picked it up—carefully).

Picture 9 shows a group of red ants. We saw many types of ants and termites and Betsy got “up close and personal” with one that had a nasty bite that itched for several days.

Because there were several animals we didn’t get to see, we spent one morning visiting an animal rehabilitation center. People will illegally keep endangered animals and then decide they don’t want them. This center will take them. There were several baby manatees that came to the center because their mothers’ were captured and eaten, leaving the babies orphaned.  There were birds with broken wings and other injured animals, some of which will be returned to the wild and some will remain here. We had a wonderful visit and really appreciate what these people are trying to do.

Picture 10 shows a Hyacinth Macaw that was just gorgeous. It had been purchased to use in a movie and then given to the center. These are rarely seen.

Picture 11 shows a Capybara at the center. It’s a rodent that eats off the jungle floor and weighs between 40 and 50 pounds.

Picture 12 shows a baby sloth. We did see an adult in the wild, but it was so high in the tree that we couldn’t get a photo, although we could see it pretty well through binoculars. This baby was orphaned and spends it’s day cuddled up with Winnie the Pooh and loves to be petted—a spoiled sloth!

What fun it has been to learn about these critters!