The Amazon rainforest (Portuguese: Floresta Amazônica or Amazônia; Spanish: Selva Amazónica, Amazonía or usually Amazonia; French: Forêt amazonienne; Dutch: Amazoneregenwoud), also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 square kilometres (2,700,000 sq mi), of which 5,500,000 square kilometres (2,100,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. States or departments in four nations contain "Amazonas" in their names. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.
Amazon rainforest, near Manaus, Brazil.
Etymology
The name 'Amazon' is said to arise from a war Francisco de Orellana fought with a tribe of Tapuyas and other tribes from South America. The women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was the custom among the entire tribe. Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the mythical Amazons of Asia and Africa described by Herodotus and Diodorus in Greek legends.
Natural
The rainforest likely formed during the Eocene era. It appeared following a global reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm, moist climate to the Amazon basin. The rain forest has been in existence for at least 55 million years, and most of the region remained free of savanna-type biomes at least until the current ice age, when the climate was drier and savanna more widespread.
Following the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the wetter climate may have allowed the tropical rainforest to spread out across the continent. From 65–34 Mya, the rainforest extended as far south as 45°. Climate fluctuations during the last 34 million years have allowed savanna regions to expand into the tropics. During the Oligocene, for example, the rainforest spanned a relatively narrow band that lay mostly above latitude 15°N. It expanded again during the Middle Miocene, then retracted to a mostly inland formation at the last glacial maximum. However, the rainforest still managed to thrive during these glacial periods, allowing for the survival and evolution of a broad diversity of species.
Geoglyphs on deforested
Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest. land in the Amazon
rainforest, Acre.
Popular Posts
-
The Chuska Mountains are an elongate range on the southeast Colorado Plateau and within the Navajo Nation whose...
-
The domestic dog ( Canis lupus familiaris ) is a subspecies of the gray wolf ( Canis lupus ), a member of the Canidae fa...
-
Mixed deciduous forest in Stara Planina , Serbia Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off"...
-
The Pacific sand crab is a small crab growing up to 35 millimetres (1.4 in) long and 25 mm (1.0 in) wide. The female is nea...
-
The superfamily Chelonioidea has a world-wide distribution; sea turtles can be found in all oceans except for the polar regi...
-
Crayfish – also called crawfish or crawdads – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters , to which they are ...
-
Elephants are large mammals of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea . Traditionally, two species are recognised...
-
Pterois range in size from 6.2 to 42.4 cm with typical adults measuring 38 cm and weighing an average of 480 g. They are well...
-
Nephrops norvegicus has the typical body shape of a lobster , albeit narrower than the large Homarus species. It is pale ...
Blog Archive
-
▼
2013
(71)
-
▼
July
(13)
- Beech Trees part of SONIAN FOREST
- Forest in different areas of the world (SPINY FOREST)
- Forest in different areas of the world (BIOGRADSKA...
- Forest of different areas of the world (TEMPERATE ...
- Forest in different areas of the world (AMAZON RAI...
- Forest of different areas of the world (RAJGIR FOR...
- Forest in different areas of the world (DECIDUOUS ...
- Forest in different areas of the world (CONIFER FO...
- Forest
- PICTURES of the TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS
- Flatworms (Planaria torva)
- Types of Modern Garden Roses
- Different Kinds of Roses (OLD GARDEN ROSES)
-
▼
July
(13)