The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest, located in South America’s Amazon Basin, has been facing deforestation—the conversion of forested areas to non-forested areas—since the 1960s. If humans continue to cut down trees in the region at the same rate, the Amazon Rainforest will be reduced by 40 percent in two decades.

The Amazon Basin is 1.7 billion acres—several times the size of the United States! The rainforest, the world’s largest, is spread through Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Scientists have found EVIDENCE that human inhabitants first lived in the Amazon more than 11,000 years ago!



There are rainforests—forests that get 68 inches to 78 inches of rain a year—all around the world. And there are two types: tropical, like the Amazon, and temperate. Rainforests are home to somewhere between 40 percent and 75 percent of Earth’s species. Scientists estimate that there are millions of types of plants, insects and microorganisms that have not yet been discovered! Rainforests are also home to uncontacted tribes—people who by choice or chance live, or have lived, without significant contact with the rest of the world. Brazil alone is known to have 67 uncontacted tribes in the rainforest.

In addition to supporting a variety of life, rainforests are responsible for about 30 percent of the world’s oxygen turnover, which is done through photosynthesis. A tropical rainforest is usually divided into four main layers: the emergent, canopy, understory and forest floor. Each of these layers has different plants and animals. The emergent is made of tall trees—with some that grow to be 260 feet tall! This layer is home to eagles, butterflies, bats and some monkeys. As you work your way down the layers, you will find all sorts of different plants, insects, birds, snakes, lizards, jaguars, leopards and more!

If you’d like to visit a rainforest without leaving Arizona, check out Biosphere 2.