City of the Beast Amazon PowerPoint By: Tyler Carrell, Megan Harrison, Paige VanLare, and Arlene Qiqi Chen

Geography And Climate The area around the Amazon River has a mainly tropical climate, and is surrounded by rain forests. The Amazon River is approximately 4,200 miles long and is the second longest river in the world. Its mouth is located in the Atlantic Ocean and is in Brazil. Its basin covers a distance of about 6,400 km before draining into the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon and its tributaries form the largest volume of water. The Amazon carries about 20% of the total water carried to the oceans by rivers. The Amazon River and the area around it have a tropical rain forest climate. Annual rain fall is approximately 1500–2500 mm. Day temperatures typically reach 30-35°C, while night temperatures reach 15-25°C.The climate consists of two seasons, a "dry" or low-water season, and a wet season during which the rivers flood.

Ecology and Ecotourism The Amazon’s ecology is very unique. It is rainy, humid, and warm, and also a rainforest. They consist of a wide variety of plants and animals not found elsewhere. The rainforest only covers 7% of the Earth, but contain 50% of the biodiversity there. The average temperature is around 25°C (77°F) The Amazon gets 9 feet of rain every year. That’s two times the amount of rain we receive in Florida! Sadly, some of the rainforests in the Amazon are being chopped down to earn money for logging. If the people keep cutting the trees down, the plants and animals won’t have a place to live, and then die out. Rainforests used to cover over 4 billion acres, but now, over half of the land is gone, and around 9,000 species go extinct every year.

Plants and Animals of the Amazon The Amazon Rainforest is home to a diversity of life. Many fish, frogs, birds, mammals, and other creatures live in these forests. Over 975 different species of mammals and reptiles live in this forest, and one third of the worlds birds live in the forest as well. The plants living in the Amazon are about as diverse as the animals. People often call the Amazon the “Lungs of Earth” because it produces about 20% of the Earth’s oxygen. Many plants in the rainforest are use for medicine. Although we have 121 prescription drugs from the rainforest, scientist have only test about 1% of the worlds animals. With all this life, you can imagine that the competition for survival is fierce. Over many years, the animals have evolved to escape being eaten, or to get past defenses.

Culture Food Amazon Rainforest tribes hunt, fish, and farm for food. Their main crop is manioc, which they use to make flour. They hunt many animals for meat, including monkey and alligator. They grow or find fruits like bananas. Chores Kids who live in tribes, villages, and other groups have regular chores. Girls have to help cook and fetch water. Boys help hunt, fish, and farm. Shelter Interestingly enough, a large amount of villages in the Amazon Rainforest’s houses don’t have walls! Most kids don’t have their own rooms. The houses are usually made out poles and a thatched roof. Language There are over 200 different groups native to the Amazon Rainforest, and more then 180 different languages! Medicine Most tribes have a medicine man who uses herbs and spiritual powers to heal.