Amazon Rainforest Animals
make up
the highest numbers of species in any ecosystem in the world.
This makes it sound like the life of these animals is easy, but it's
not - there is lots of competition and struggle for survival.
Insects
Firstly,
there are millions of
species of insects
amongst
Amazon rainforest animals,
including some beautiful colourful butterflies, giant beetles and
cockroaches, and praying mantids.
Amphibians
There are also many species of amphibians such as
salamanders and frogs, including poison dart frogs, glass frogs,
warty-skinned toads and surinam toads.
Reptiles
Reptiles
include snakes like anacondas, boa constrictors, bushmasters,
fer-de-lances,and pit vipers; lizards like anolis lizards,
turnip-tailed geckos and tegu (Tupinambis
teguixin); tortoises and turtles such as taricayans,
arraus and yellow-footed tortoises; and crocodiles such as black caiman
(Melanosuchus niger)
and common spectacled caiman (Caiman
crocodilus).
Mammals
Some classic mammals
amongst Amazon rainforest animals are armadillos (Dasypodidae); sloths such as three-toed (Bradypus sp.) and
two-toed sloths (Choloepus
sp.); anteaters such as giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla),
pygmy
anteater (Cyclopes
didactylus),
and
southern and northern tamandua (Tamandua
tetradactyla and Tamandua
mexicana); odd-toed ungulates such as Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris),
and even-toed ungulates such as deer (Cervidae)
and
peccaries (Tayassuidae).
Primates
Primates
include marmosets and tamarins (Callitrichidae),
Coeldi's monkeys (Callimiconidae),
and true monkeys (Cebidae)
such as
night monkeys (Aotus
sp),
squirrel monkeys (Saimiri
sp),
dusky titi monkeys (Callicebus
moloch),
woolly monkeys (Lagothrix
sp),
spider monkeys (Ateles
sp),
howler monkeys (Alouatta
sp),
saki monkeys (Pithecia
sp) and
capuchin monkeys (Cebus
sp).
Bats
and Rodents
There are also many species of bats
(Chiroptera),
such as
long-nosed bat (Rhynchonycteris
naso),
fringe-lipped bats (Trachops
cirrhosus),
round-eared bats (Tonatia
bidens),
greater bulldog bats (Noctilio
leporinus) and the infamous vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus).
And finally, of course, there are
many carnivores amongst the
mammals. Cats
(Felidae)
include jaguars (Panthera
onca), pumas (Puma
concolor), jaguarundi
(Herpailurus
yaguarondi), oncillas (Felis
tiogrina), margay (Leopardus
wiedii)
and ocelots
(Leopardus pardalis). Dogs
(Canidae)
include short-eared
dog (Atelocynus microtis) and bush dog (Speothos
venaticus). Weasels
(Mustelidae)
include tayra
(Eira
barbara),
grison (Galictis vittata),
giant otter
(Pteronura brasiliensis) and neotropical or river otter (Lontra
longicaudis). Raccoons
(Procyonidae)
include olingo
(Bassaricyon
sp),
kinkajou (Potos
flavus)
and South American coati (Nasua
nasua).
There is only one species of bears
(Ursidae) -
the Andean bear or
spectacled bear, Tremarctos
ornatus.
Note:
This site uses British English, which is the English we use in
Australia. Disclaimer:
This website is about interesting facts about rainforests.
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that all the information on this
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