Amazon Basin - Animal Life

Animal Life

Mammals. More than 10000 species of mammal are found in the Amazon, the majority of which are bats and rodents.

Birds. About 1500 bird species inhabit the Amazon Basin. Macaws are famous for gathering by the hundreds, even thousands, along the clay cliffs of the Amazon river where they feed on minerals which help the birds process toxins found in the seeds they eat. The biodiversity of the Amazon and the sheer number of diverse bird species is given by the number of different bird families that reside in these humid forests. An example of such would be the family Cotinga, to which the Guianan Cock-of-the-rock belong.

Reptiles. Many reptiles species are illegally collected and exported for the international pet trade. Live animals are the fourth largest commodity in the smuggling industry after drugs, diamonds, and weapons.

Amphibians . More than 1000 species of frogs are found in the Amazon. Unlike temperate frogs which are mostly limited to habitats near water, tropical frogs are most abundant in the trees and relatively few are found near bodies of water on the forest floor. The reason for this occurrence is quite simple: frogs must always keep their skin moist since almost half of their respiration in carried out through their skin. The high humidity of the rainforest and frequent rainstorms gives tropical frogs infinitely more freedom to move into the trees and escape the many predators of rainforest waters. The differences between temperate and tropical frogs extend beyond their habitat. Whereas nearly all temperate frogs lay their eggs in water, the majority of rainforest species place eggs in vegetation or lay them in the ground. By leaving the water, frogs avoid egg-predators like fish, shrimp, aquatic insects, and insect larvae. Among the best known of rainforest amphibians are the tiny, but brilliantly colored poison dart (arrow) frogs . These striking but slow-moving frogs secrete powerful toxins from glands on their backs and use their color to advertise their toxic composition to potential predators

Fish. With more than 2,200 species the Amazon Basin has a larger fish fauna than any other river basin on Earth, and Amazonia is the center of diversity for Neotropical fishes (Albert and Reis, 2011)

Some of the major fish groups of the Amazon Basin include:-

• Order Gymnotiformes: Neotropical electric fishes
• Family Characidae: tetras and allies
• Family Loricariidae: armoured catfishes
• Subfamily Cichlinae: Neotropical cichlids
• Subfamily Poeciliinae: guppies and relatives

Insects . Over 90% of the animal species in the Amazon are insects. Whereas all of Europe has some 321 butterfly species, the Manu National Park in Peru (4000 hectare-survey) has 1300 species, while Tambopata National Park (5500 hectare-survey) has at least 1231 species . Around 25% of the world's 2 million described animals species are beetles (Coleoptera). The Longhorn Beetle (Titanus giganteus) can have a body length (not including antennae) of over 6.5 inches (16 cm). A single square mile of rainforest often houses more than 50,000 insect species. Some scientists estimate that 30% of the animal biomass of the Amazon Basin is made up of ants.