AMAZON RAINFOREST FACTS The Amazon rainforest, covering much of north western Brazil and extending into Colombia, Peru and other South American countries, is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, famed for its biodiversity. It’s crisscrossed by thousands of rivers, including the powerful Amazon. River towns, with 19th-century architecture from rubber-boom days, include Brazil’s Manaus and Belém and Peru’s Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado. Ecosystem While the Amazon Basin is home to the world's largest tropical rainforest, the region consists of a number of ecosystems ranging from natural savanna to swamps What countries are in the Amazon rainforest? • The basin is 2.7 million square miles while the Amazon covers 2.1 million square miles of it. If the Amazon rainforest was a country, it would rank 9th in size. The nine nations that have the Amazon rainforest in their borders are: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. How much of the world's oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest? • More than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest. More than half of the world's estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests. One-fifth of the world's fresh water is in the Amazon Basin. What kind of animals live in the Amazon rainforest? •The Amazon Rainforest, also known as the Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is the largest rainforest on earth and is home to 427 mammals (e.g. the jaguar, sloth, and river dolphin), 1,300 birds (like the macaw), 378 reptiles (e.g. anaconda or the Jesus lizard), and more than 400 amphibians (e.g. glass frog and poison dart frog). It covers 40% of the South American continent and can be found within the following countries: Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname as well as in French Guiana, a department of France. The Amazon consists of several ecosystems and vegetation types and is very species-rich. One in ten known species in the world lives in the Amazon Rainforest as do one in five known bird species. It is home to about 2,000 birds and mammals and here we will discover a few well known species currently living in the Amazon Rainforest. That's not to say, however, that the rest of South America doesn't have some unique and intriguing species of its own. Capybara Giant Anteater Green Iguana Poison Dart Frog Macaw Amazon River Dolphin Jaguar How much of the Amazon rainforest has already been destroyed? • That is more than 150 acres lost every minute of every day, and 78 million acres lost every year! More than 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest is already gone, and much more is severely threatened as the destruction continues. It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year .