A rainforest, by definition, is tropical woodland with lush vegetation and great biological diversity. There are three layers to the rainforest, the canopy, the understory, and the forest floor. The canopy is the top part where birds, monkeys, and jumping spiders live, among others. The understory is where creatures such as snakes, frogs, and lizards live. The forest floor is where the decomposers live, along with jungle cats, anteaters, and other large animals. Some species are born, live and die all without moving from one part of the rainforest to another. There are more species of plants and animals living in rainforests then all of the other biomes combined! The rainforest is an ecosystem with a delicate balance of life. The rainforest I will talk about in my report is the Amazon River area. Also called the Amazon River basin, the area surrounding the river is mostly rainforest. Rainforests are home to an amazing number of organisms, and the Amazon is no exception. Housing unique and exotic organisms, like the piranha, the spider monkey, and new species being discovered all the time, the Amazon should not be cut down. In my report, I will try to persuade you, the reader, and others to take care of the rainforest.

The Amazon River affects the rainforest because the plants need the river! The lush green vegetation living there and also the other organisms need the river to survive. The river’s headstreams in the Andes Mountains are the Ucayali and the Apurímac Rivers. The rivers join 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean on the northwest coast of South America. The Amazon (the by-product of the rivers) travels close to the equator for about 4,000 miles eastward through Peru and Brazil before dumping into the Atlantic. Six million cubic feet of water spills into the ocean every second! So much fresh water flows through the Amazon’s mouth, that for 100 miles away from shore, the Atlantic Ocean seems like freshwater! The Amazon is the second largest river in the world; only the Nile River is bigger. The Amazon dumps ten times more water into the Atlantic than the Mississippi dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. Along with its tributaries, which number over one thousand, with seventeen being over a thousand miles long by themselves, the Amazon flows through nine countries! The rainforest gets 200 centimeters of rain yearly. The river can be anywhere from 20 to 60 miles wide. Rivers of different colors can also join the blue-black Amazon waters. Some, like the Madeira, can seem white because of the clay floating in the river.

I knew that the Amazon River was huge and powerful, but I didn’t think it was as powerful as it is! 3900 miles long! WOW! It also drains 2.3 million square miles of land! That is big! But the reason the river affects the forest is because WATER IS IMPORTANT!

There are many different types of people living in the Amazon. Before the European settlers came to the region, there were over five million native people living in the rainforest. In 1996, there were 200,000. That is a very dangerous drop. The following information is on the Yanomami tribe. The Yanomami eat mostly fruit, including bananas, avocados, and sweet palm fruits. They also eat Brazil nuts, insects, potatoes, and cassava. Cassava is also called manioc and yucca. It is the chief source of tapioca. For the Yanomami, it can be prepared as a sauce or as a non-toxic drink. The Yanomami also eat meat from small animals in the rainforest and some kinds of fish. Their shelter is a circular house called a shabano. A shabano is a house for related families of up to 75 people. It is made out of grass, wood, and has a roof of leaves. Each family has its own section with a cooking fire. A new shabano must be built after a few years because the old one wears out. Yanomami villages sometimes invite other villages to a feast. Guests travel many miles for these events, which builds strong ties between villages. The menu for the feast might include plantain soup, smoked monkey or wild turkey. Villages give gifts to those who come. As a gift for coming, the host village could give out pots, machetes, or food. The visitors repay the hosts by inviting them to a feast at their village. The men farm, hunt, and act as medicine men. The women take care of the young children. Girls and women also decorate their faces with thin sticks from wood. They place the sticks in their nose, corners of mouth, and lower lip. This placement represents the whiskers on a jaguar. There are also modern cities, for example Manaus, where people live normal lives, just like you and me. Manaus is a city right smack dab in the middle of the Amazon basin. It is off to the side of the Rio Negro. There are businesses, highways, and many other city things. The Rio Negro is a major tributary of the Amazon, and ships many things a day. Manaus is just one example of cities next to Indian villages, which makes the rainforest so unique and interesting.

There are many different types of organisms that live in the Amazon rainforest. Over 2000 fish species and over 3500 bird species make their home in the Amazon. Some examples of species are the spider monkey, the peccary, the liana, the South American manatee, the howler monkey, the capybara, the anteater, the piranha, the macaw, the jaguar, and the butterflies. The spider monkey swings in trees by its tail, and uses the tail like a third hand. The peccary is a relative to the pig. It has a broad snout, a tiny tail, and tusks. Farmers and Indians hunt it for its meat. The liana is a species of vines draped around trees. Birds spread the liana’s seeds. The South American manatee is an endangered species. Humans hunt it for its flesh and oil. At 1300 lbs., it isn’t a very fast swimmer, so please don’t drive in motorboats in the Amazon because you could kill the manatees. The howler monkey, unlike its name, does not howl. It makes a very loud moaning sound, instead. That moaning sound can be heard for over a mile, thanks to the monkey’s enlarged windpipe. The capybara is the world’s biggest rodent. It is a very good swimmer. The 100-pound animal hides among water plants with only its nose above the surface to hide from enemies. The anteater has no teeth, but has strong, sharp front claws that are used in digging. When the ants are dug out, its sticky tongue laps up the ants. The piranha is the killer fish of the Amazon waters. A school of piranha can rip meat of the bones off people like we rip meat off of chicken bones. The piranha rarely attacks, though, unless handled out of the water. There are over 20 species of piranha in the Amazon. The macaw is one of the 14 types of parrots in the Amazon. Its beak is so powerful that it can easily break open all types of nuts, even the frustratingly hard Brazil nut. The jaguar is at the top of the Amazon food chain. No animal eats the jaguar. The territory of the jaguar can be up to 10 square miles! The roars of a jaguar can be heard from long distances, especially near water. The scenes of brightly colored butterflies might just take your breath away! Sometimes a few thousand gather on a tree and the tree looks like it’s coated in butterflies!

I would like to go visit the rainforest sometime, (if the rainforest is not all cut down by then) and just marvel at the diversity of the organisms that have a habitat of the rainforest. The different animals, birds, reptiles, plants, and fish could amaze any human being. For every creature that is hunted to extinction or its habitat destroyed, we lose part of the story of the rainforest forever.

European explorers first came upon the Amazon by accident. Gonzalo Pizarro, Francisco Orellana, and crew first started out on an expedition to find cities of gold, but they ended up discovering the Amazon River and rainforest in 1541. The expedition ran out of supplies at the Napo River, so Orellana went to get some by floating down the Napo into the Amazon River. Orellana and his party traveled over seven hundred miles before finding food. They did not use the food in the jungle, because they thought it might be poisonous. On June 3, Orellana and his men passed a river of black water that they named "Rio Negro" which means black river. Orellana’s party reached the mouth of the Amazon on Aug. 26, 1542. Then they sailed back to King Charles I of Spain, with Orellana asking to be made governor of the entire land that he had explored. The king agreed and granted Orellana a second trip to the Amazon. The second journey began on May 11, 1545, and Orellana had 4 ships and 325 men. The trip started out fine, but when the crew was crossing the Atlantic, some refused to work and others died of sickness. Orellana’s journey got worse while traveling upriver on the Amazon. One boat was shipwrecked, while another was lost among the islands at the mouth of the Amazon. Orellana caught a fever, and in 1546, when he was 35, he died.

The discovering of the Amazon was key in opening up the way for research, tours, and construction engineers. That has been one of the biggest mistakes in the Amazonian history. The development of the Amazon permanently was also a mistake. Francisco Orellana probably thought that the development wouldn’t hurt a thing. Now, there are cities all over Brazil and Peru where Amazonian rainforest once was. That is very, very sad.

The rainforest is being cut down because people are taking away things from the rainforest and not giving enough back. The Brazil government has suggested that some parts of the rainforest be cleared for housing. Many people around the tropics are poor and the government would sell the land at a very low price. The business people in Amazonia believe taking lumber and minerals would help the Brazilian economy and create jobs. Cattle ranchers burn millions of acres yearly to create grassland for cattle and the land is bought cheaply from the government. When the soil wears out from grazing, they move on. Gold miners use mercury to separate gold from rocks found in rivers. Mercury has polluted Amazon waters, causing very serious health problems for people, animals, and fish. The Grand Carajas project is a huge complex of mines, factories and dams near one of the largest iron deposits in the world. Owners of the Grand Carajas Project hope that the project will provide precious metals for Brazil. Also, 13,000 Amazonian Indians have been forced to leave their homes because of the project.

I can’t believe it! What are those people thinking! They are destroying one of the places on the Earth that is still untouched. And what do they do? They burn it, bulldoze it, poison it, and otherwise destroy it. It’s a disgrace! Don’t those people want to unlock the secrets of the rainforest? Right now, while you are reading this, there’s a chance that a species has disappeared. Forever. Maybe the species could have been a cure for AIDS, cancer, or even the common cold or flu. I ask, WHY? Why do they cut down the rainforest? Why don’t they give any thing back to Mother Nature and the rainforest? Why don’t they find other places to do their business, or wait 100 years and plant some new rainforest plants? It’s a lot more sensible then leaving the space cleared.

Many people have been involved in rainforest preservation. One of them was Chico Menedes. He was a leader in the fight to preserve the rainforest. He was a lowly rubber tapper, but resisted attempts from wealthy landowners to clear forests for cattle land. The Amazonian Indian groups supported and joined Chico in the fight to save the rainforests. On December 22, 1988, his enemies killed Chico. Through a nonviolent way, speaking and peace marches, he raised people’s consciousness about the rainforest. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has a flavor called Rainforest Crunch. Rainforest Crunch has nuts in it that were bought from natives in the rainforest. Over 7% of the entire company’s profit goes to help environmental conservation, including rainforests. Scientists have discovered a new species of marmoset that is called Satire marmosets. Finding a new species of marmoset, Dr. Russell Mittermeier said, shows "how ignorant we are or the vast range of life on Earth." That is very embarrassing. Scientists have also discovered that curare, a poison used on Amazonian Indians’ arrow tips for hunting, can help people, particularly those suffering from diseases such as spastic paralysis.

In my last paragraph of reactions, I talked about why people are cutting down the rainforest. Now I have talked about why people need to preserve the rainforest. Just think, if the rainforest was properly cared for, all known diseases might have a cure. No more AIDS. No more cancer. Malaria, a very critical disease, can be treated using the bark from a cinchona tree, which contains quinine. Maybe future generations will develop new ways to fight diseases. So we need to protect and save the rainforests.

Another major reason we need to save the rainforest is because the rainforest has been called the "lung of the world". The Amazon rainforest is the "lung of the world" because all the plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, renewing the earth’s supply. Since Amazonia is one of the places in which there are millions of plants, if it is cut down, there could be a drastic effect on the earth. Bulldozers are cutting down those trees. They clear roads through the rainforests and level land for farming. These bulldozers can wipe out acres a day.

The bulldozers are a real menace to our rainforests. There can be a place where millions of organisms live, and then after the bulldozers go through, there are none. The bulldozers wipe out species every 10 minutes in the rainforest. It needs to stop.

Kids can do things to help save the rainforest. Here are nine things you can do:

1. Protect endangered species. Don't buy things made from ivory, coral, reptile skins, etc.
2. Avoid buying rainforest and other tropical hardwoods (furniture, doors, etc.) unless certified as being from sustainable sources. When in doubt, don’t buy it.
3. Choose cereals, nuts, and cookies that have been made from rainforests products and advertise their support for rainforest conservation. Also, avoid fast-food hamburgers, because the meat most likely comes from land that used to be Amazonian rainforest.
4. Try to buy tree-free paper (paper made from straw, cotton, etc. or recycled paper). A major reason forests are cut down is for paper, so the less wood-based paper we use, the less need to cut the rainforests down!
5. Notice which companies are being boycotted because of demolishing the rainforest (like Mitsubishi, Texaco, etc.) and try to get everyone in your family to avoid buying their products.
6. Write to your principal, asking that your school follow the boycotts or start a petition that asks your school to avoid products that are the targets of boycotts.
7. Organize an event that is educational or fund raising to raise awareness about the destruction of rainforests.
8. Join the Rainforest Action Network at http://www.ran.org/ran/kids_action. Send for an Action Guide, what you need to become a rainforest agitator.
9. Visit stores, like the Discovery Channel, the Body Shop, and The Nature Company in the Mall. These stores have ecological products and some were made from the rainforest.

You need a lot of supplies if you are taking a journey into the rainforest. A hammock is one key element in a pleasant trip. Boats rent sleeping space, but you have to provide the hammock. In hot, humid weather, the hammock generates its own breeze, so it’s a great way to keep cool. A terrific way to sightsee is to take a cruise. You can visit markets, or just wander around in the rainforest. You may end up sharing space with dogs, chickens, or even pigs! Watch out! Boa constrictors are sometimes mistaken for vines in the jungle. They can weigh 300 pounds and be up to 38 feet long. Anacondas can be on your path, too. They are poisonous; don’t touch! Fire ants float down the Amazon until they reach a hard object, then attack with a bite that causes pain and fever. Also, the bugs can cause welts that sting. To enjoy the sights of the rainforest, and to show kids and grandkids, bring along a camera. The sights can be glorious, so remember it. Bring the camera in January, too, and come to Barcelos, three hundred miles from Manaus on the Rio Negro, for a big festival. Aquarium owners can buy any color of fish imaginable.

If I took a trip into the Amazon, I would like to take pictures of animals, birds, and fish, catch non-rare types of fish, and also visit some Indian villages. The Amazon is a great tourist attraction, if whatever you take from the rainforest, you give more back. I think the 5^th grade would like to go. Field trip! Even if we can’t go there on a field trip, we can take a virtual tour at some Web sites.

My feeling about the rainforest is that it is really in danger of being wiped out! At the current rate of extinction, there is a species of plant of animal disappearing every 10 minutes so we need to slow down or stop the process immediately. I learned from doing this report that if people want to do something, they can do it. If people wanted to stop cutting down the rainforest, they could. We have to find another area, or use another type of material or natural resources. If I had to do this project over again, I would have planned to be in the classroom the day that the due date was picked, because I would have set the date back to February 13, one week after the real due date, February 6, because the tight time squeeze meant I had to take about half of my notes at home. I think the project was a fun and learning experience, even though I think I got more work done at home then at school. I intend to keep exploring the Internet, looking at cool sites and jumping from link to link.

 
1500’s
1541- Francisco Orellana and crew explore the Amazon.

1600’s
1637-1638 -Pedro Teixeira take the first voyage up the Amazon and reaches Quito.

1700’s
1736- Frenchman Charles Marie de la Condamine leads a scientific expedition, opening the door for modern-day explorers.

1800’s
1800’s- Alexander Von Humboldt explores the Amazon.

Mid-1800’s- John Dunlap invents the tire; rubber boom begins.

Mid-1800’s- Amazon Basin becomes important source of rubber.

1839- Charles Goodyear invents vulcanization.

1850’s- Bicycles become popular, and it uses rubber tires.

1880’s- 1890’s- Rubber barons get rich in Manaus.

1890- Electric trolleys cross Manaus’s streets. In Boston, they still use horse-and- buggy!

1900’s- Exploration is conducted by the National Geographic Society.

1910- Rubber boom ends.

1914- Explored by Theodore Roosevelt.

1960-Now-Brazil has and is building highways and airports where rainforest once was.

1980’s- Brazil starts to ensure that efforts to develop Amazonia will not hurt it.

1982- Brazil sets aside over 19 million acres aside for the Yanomami tribe.

1987- 40,000 gold seekers pour onto Yanomami lands.

1988- Chico Menedes, a leader in the fight to save the rainforest, is killed.

1995- Truck road from Manaus to Venezuela is completed.
 
 

Rainforest Action Network 65 Bleecker St. New York, NY 10012 212-677-1900 http://www.ran.org	Rainforest Alliance 221 Pine St. Ste. 500 San Francisco, CA 94104 414-398-4404 http://www.rainforest-alliance.org
World Wildlife Fund 1250 24th St. NW P.O. Box 96555 Washington, DC 20077-7795 1-800-CALL-WWF http://wwf.org	Amanaka’a Amazon Network 60 E. 13th St. 5th Floor New York, NY 10003 212-253-9502 http://www.amanakaa.org
Rainforest Conservation Fund 2038 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60614 http://homepage.interaccess.com/~rcf/

 
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