Amazon jungle map

A rainforest is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall. Rainforests are Earth’s oldest living ecosystems, with some surviving in their present form for at least 70 million years. They are incredibly diverse and complex, home to more than half of the world’s plant and animal species—even though they cover just six percent of Earth’s surface. This makes rainforests astoundingly dense with flora and fauna; a 10-square-kilometer (four-square-mile) patch can contain as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies. Rainforests thrive on every continent except Antarctica. The largest rainforests on Earth surround the Amazon River in South America and the Congo River in Africa. The tropical islands of Southeast Asia and parts of Australia support dense rainforest habitats. Even the cool evergreen forests of North America’s Pacific Northwest and Northern Europe are a type of rainforest. Rainforests’ rich biodiversity is incredibly important to our well-being and the well-being of our planet. Rainforests help regulate our climate and provide us with everyday products. Unsustainable industrial and agricultural development, however, has severely degraded the health of the world’s rainforests. Citizens, governments, intergovernmental organizations, and conservation groups are working together to protect these invaluable but fragile ecosystems. Rainforest Structure Most rainforests are structured...

The Amazon is one of the planet’s last great wildernesses, but legends have circulated for centuries that lost cities existed deep within the forests. A search for El Dorado, a supposed city of gold, lured many Spanish explorers far off the map, and some of them never returned. As recently as the 20th century, British explorer Percy Fawcett searched for what he believed was the Lost City of Z. He vanished into the jungle and added his own unfinished chapter to a tale that began 600 years ago. Now the plot has taken a new twist, as scientists have discovered that ancient cities really did exist in the Amazon. And while urban ruins remain extremely difficult to find in thick, remote forests, a key technology has helped change the game. Perched in a helicopter some 650 feet up, scientists used light-based remote sensing technology (lidar) to digitally deforest the canopy and identify the ancient ruins of a vast urban settlement around Llanos de Mojos in the Bolivian Amazon that was abandoned some 600 years ago. The new images reveal, in detail, a stronghold of the socially complex Casarabe Culture (500-1400 C.E.) with urban centers boasting monumental platform and pyramid architecture. Raised causeways connected a constellation of suburban-like settlements, which stretched for miles across a landscape that was shaped by a massive water control and distribution system with reservoirs and canals. The site, Nature , is the most striking discovery to suggest that the Amazon’s rai...

The Countries Sharing The Amazon Rainforest Brazil Also known as the Brazilian Amazon, the Amazon rainforest in Brazil takes 64% coverage. It is found in the heart of Brazil and contains different species of plants and animals. Animals like the Brazilian tapir, the giant anteater, spider monkeys, and the Amazon pink dolphin are found here. A protection network was started in 2000 to curb deforestation. Peru With species like the blue and yellow macaw found here, the Amazon rainforest in Peru takes a 10% of the land cover in Peru. It has the second largest portion of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil. Many species of animals including kinkajou, squirrel monkey, and jaguar live in the rainforest. Many plant species are also found here. To curb illegal logging, the Forestry and Wildlife Law was amended in 2000 to protect the rainforest. Colombia The Amazon Rainforest covers an area of about 6% in Colombia. It is located in the southern Colombia and spreads across an area of 155,599.17 square miles.It stretches to the Brazilian and Venezuelan borders in the east. Rich biodiversity is found in the Colombian Amazon, and different species of plants and animals are found here. Many species of birds including the macaws and parrots, manakins, hummingbirds, and woodpeckers call this rainforest home. Protection measures have installed to protect the rainforest from deforestation and other dangers. Bolivia The Amazon covers an area of 229,985 square miles taking up 6% of the land in ...

The round villages all had remarkably similar layouts, with elongated mounds circling a central plaza, like marks on a clock. "These latter elongated mounds, when seen from above, look like the rays of the sun, which gives them the common name of 'Sóis,'" the Portuguese word for "suns," the researchers wrote in the study. The discovery is part of a new archaeological focus on the pre-Columbian Amazon. Within the past 20 years, researchers have learned that the rainforest's southern rim was home to a great diversity of soil-sculpting cultures that engineered the landscape before the Europeans arrived. Within the past decade, scientists have uncovered the remnants of so-called "mound villages," which are shaped as circles or rectangles, and connected by road networks. Archaeologists, however, had yet to look for mound villages in the Brazilian state of Acre, so an international group of researchers teamed up to survey the area with lidar — or light detection and ranging. With this technique, billions of lasers shot from overhead (in this case, from a helicopter) penetrate the rainforest's canopy and map the landscape below. The lidar survey, combined with satellite data, revealed a remarkable 25 circular mound villages and 11 rectangular mound villages, the researchers said. Another 15 mound villages were so poorly preserved, they could not be categorized as either circular or rectangular, the team added. The circular mound villages had an average diameter of 282 feet (86 m...

The Amazon is one of the planet’s last great wildernesses, but legends have circulated for centuries that lost cities existed deep within the forests. A search for El Dorado, a supposed city of gold, lured many Spanish explorers far off the map, and some of them never returned. As recently as the 20th century, British explorer Percy Fawcett searched for what he believed was the Lost City of Z. He vanished into the jungle and added his own unfinished chapter to a tale that began 600 years ago. Now the plot has taken a new twist, as scientists have discovered that ancient cities really did exist in the Amazon. And while urban ruins remain extremely difficult to find in thick, remote forests, a key technology has helped change the game. Perched in a helicopter some 650 feet up, scientists used light-based remote sensing technology (lidar) to digitally deforest the canopy and identify the ancient ruins of a vast urban settlement around Llanos de Mojos in the Bolivian Amazon that was abandoned some 600 years ago. The new images reveal, in detail, a stronghold of the socially complex Casarabe Culture (500-1400 C.E.) with urban centers boasting monumental platform and pyramid architecture. Raised causeways connected a constellation of suburban-like settlements, which stretched for miles across a landscape that was shaped by a massive water control and distribution system with reservoirs and canals. The site, Nature , is the most striking discovery to suggest that the Amazon’s rai...

The round villages all had remarkably similar layouts, with elongated mounds circling a central plaza, like marks on a clock. "These latter elongated mounds, when seen from above, look like the rays of the sun, which gives them the common name of 'Sóis,'" the Portuguese word for "suns," the researchers wrote in the study. The discovery is part of a new archaeological focus on the pre-Columbian Amazon. Within the past 20 years, researchers have learned that the rainforest's southern rim was home to a great diversity of soil-sculpting cultures that engineered the landscape before the Europeans arrived. Within the past decade, scientists have uncovered the remnants of so-called "mound villages," which are shaped as circles or rectangles, and connected by road networks. Archaeologists, however, had yet to look for mound villages in the Brazilian state of Acre, so an international group of researchers teamed up to survey the area with lidar — or light detection and ranging. With this technique, billions of lasers shot from overhead (in this case, from a helicopter) penetrate the rainforest's canopy and map the landscape below. The lidar survey, combined with satellite data, revealed a remarkable 25 circular mound villages and 11 rectangular mound villages, the researchers said. Another 15 mound villages were so poorly preserved, they could not be categorized as either circular or rectangular, the team added. The circular mound villages had an average diameter of 282 feet (86 m...

A rainforest is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall. Rainforests are Earth’s oldest living ecosystems, with some surviving in their present form for at least 70 million years. They are incredibly diverse and complex, home to more than half of the world’s plant and animal species—even though they cover just six percent of Earth’s surface. This makes rainforests astoundingly dense with flora and fauna; a 10-square-kilometer (four-square-mile) patch can contain as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies. Rainforests thrive on every continent except Antarctica. The largest rainforests on Earth surround the Amazon River in South America and the Congo River in Africa. The tropical islands of Southeast Asia and parts of Australia support dense rainforest habitats. Even the cool evergreen forests of North America’s Pacific Northwest and Northern Europe are a type of rainforest. Rainforests’ rich biodiversity is incredibly important to our well-being and the well-being of our planet. Rainforests help regulate our climate and provide us with everyday products. Unsustainable industrial and agricultural development, however, has severely degraded the health of the world’s rainforests. Citizens, governments, intergovernmental organizations, and conservation groups are working together to protect these invaluable but fragile ecosystems. Rainforest Structure Most rainforests are structured...

The Countries Sharing The Amazon Rainforest Brazil Also known as the Brazilian Amazon, the Amazon rainforest in Brazil takes 64% coverage. It is found in the heart of Brazil and contains different species of plants and animals. Animals like the Brazilian tapir, the giant anteater, spider monkeys, and the Amazon pink dolphin are found here. A protection network was started in 2000 to curb deforestation. Peru With species like the blue and yellow macaw found here, the Amazon rainforest in Peru takes a 10% of the land cover in Peru. It has the second largest portion of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil. Many species of animals including kinkajou, squirrel monkey, and jaguar live in the rainforest. Many plant species are also found here. To curb illegal logging, the Forestry and Wildlife Law was amended in 2000 to protect the rainforest. Colombia The Amazon Rainforest covers an area of about 6% in Colombia. It is located in the southern Colombia and spreads across an area of 155,599.17 square miles.It stretches to the Brazilian and Venezuelan borders in the east. Rich biodiversity is found in the Colombian Amazon, and different species of plants and animals are found here. Many species of birds including the macaws and parrots, manakins, hummingbirds, and woodpeckers call this rainforest home. Protection measures have installed to protect the rainforest from deforestation and other dangers. Bolivia The Amazon covers an area of 229,985 square miles taking up 6% of the land in ...