Amazon rainforest plants and animals

Rainforest plants

The Amazon rainforest harbours nearly 40,000 plant species, ranging from tiny mosses to huge trees.
Many of the Amazon’s trees have great commercial value. These include:

• Luxury woods such as mahogany.
• Brazil nut trees, which produce edible nuts, as well as oils used in cooking and beauty products.
• kapok trees, which produce a cotton-like fibre often used as a stuffing for cushions.
• murumuru palms, which produce oil rich in vitamin A.

The kapok tree, pictured above, can grow up to 60m (200 feet)

Invertebrates

Scientists know of more than 100,000 invertebrate species in the Amazon rainforest, but believe the actual number to be significantly higher. A 250 hectare area of forest can host up to 50,000 insect species.

The Amazon’s largest invertebrates include the longhorn beetle, which measures 16cm, the 20cm flatworm and the Amazonian centipede, which is 30cm long.

The Manu National Park in Peru has 1,300 butterfly species – Europe has just 321

Fish

The Amazon River and its hundreds of tributaries are home to thousands of different kinds of fish. Some of these feed on the plankton of flooded forests, others have adapted to a diet of fruit and seeds. Carnivorous fish species include the electric eel, which can reach 1.8m in length and deliver shocks of up to 650 volts.

The Amazon is also home to 20 species of piranha. Many of these are in fact vegetarian, but watch out for the red piranha when water levels and food supplies are low.

The pirarucu (above) is one of the world’s largest freshwater fish, reaching up to 2.5m in length

Amphibians

The Amazon rainforest is famed for its brightly coloured tree frogs - they can be bright blue, green, orange or yellow. But beware: the most vibrant frogs usually prove the most toxic.

Other amphibians include the climbing salamander, the orange-bellied leaf toad and the Peruvian smooth-sided toad.
Amphibians are particularly sensitive to changes in their rainforest habitat. The loss of tree cover, and resulting changes in rainfall and humidity, could be fatal for many species.

Hear a poison dart frog’s call

Reptiles

Most of the world’s reptiles are found in tropical regions. Reptiles indigenous to the Amazon rainforest include 20 species of turtle and five species of boa snake.

The black caiman is the Amazon’s largest predator - adult males can reach 6m in length. Related to crocodiles, they eat fish and animals such as deer, capybara (the world’s largest rodent), tapirs (a pig-like mammal) and even puma and jaguars.

Boas swallow their prey whole - including fish, birds, and even crocodiles and deer.

Birds

The Amazon rainforest is home to over 1,300 bird species, from the symbolic toucan to tiny hummingbirds.

Birds are particularly vulnerable to deforestation. Amazonian species under threat include the harpy eagle and hyacinth macaw.

The hyacinth macaw population has dropped to about 6,500. Macaws are threatened by the destruction of their rainforest habitat and by the pet trade as their beautiful feathers make them highly desirable.

 Listen to the scarlet macaw

Mammals

Hunting, a drop in the amount of food available and loss of their rainforest habitat have reduced mammal populations across the Amazon.

Jaguars are the largest big cats in the Americas. Although no longer hunted commercially for their pelts, they are still routinely killed by farmers who see them as a threat to livestock.

 Hear the jaguar roar

Other threatened mammals include:

Pink river dolphin - its habitat is under threat from hydroelectric and irrigation schemes, as well as pollution.

Giant otter – the world’s largest otter is classified as endangered, with threats including habitat loss, pollution and illegal hunting.

Black spider monkey - one of the largest primates in South America, the black spider monkey plays an important role in seed dispersal. But they will not venture into disturbed areas, thus are particularly vulnerable to the spread of industrial development.

Howler monkeys - these aptly named creatures are the largest - and loudest - monkeys in the Amazon rainforest. They use their distinctive cry to ward off other monkeys threatening to invade their territory.

Listen to the howler monkey’s howl