Brazil travel. Amazon river - an Emerald Tree Boa (Corallus caninus) asleep on a vine. Brazil vacations

Probably the most famous inhabitant of the Amazonian waters is the monstrous water boa anaconda. There are anaconda up to 12 meters long and two-meter in girth. The dog boa lives in tropical rain forests of South America: French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, in northeastern Brazil, southeast Venezuela (Bolivar, Amazonas). It can be found near water bodies, for example, in the Amazon or other large rivers, as well as in swampy forests. Dog boa leads exclusively arboreal lifestyle, resting and hunting dangling and moving through the trees. But sometimes it goes down to the ground to bask in the sun.

Boas of Corallus caninus usually hunt at night, he embraces a branch and, hanging over, catches prey, picking it up from the ground, or carefully moving at night along the branches, lurks sitting birds. What are the Amazon jungles hiding from us? The Amazon lowland is an ecosystem unparalleled in size and biodiversity. Acquaintance with the Amazon for the majority of tourists begins with accommodation in the "forest hotel". Most lodges provide intimate rooms, home cooked meals and daily excursions.

There are many rare species of animals in tropical forests, and some of them are on the verge of extinction. Among such animals should be mentioned baker, spider monkey, sloth, armadillo, Caiman freshwater dolphin, crocodile, boa. The incredible number of birds living in the Amazon River basin is staggering; nowhere else in the world can one meet such a number and specific diversity of birds.

Most birds feed on insects, which, in turn, feed on plants. The plants, trying to protect themselves from the voracious insects, produce various potent, most often poisonous substances, most of which have medicinal qualities. Therefore, the jungle can be safely called a storehouse of medicinal plants used in scientific and traditional medicine. Forests purify the air on a much larger scale than it might seem at first glance. Trees absorb a wide range of air pollutants, including carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Forests save millions of lives.

The first through passage on the Amazon from the Andes to the ocean was made in 1842 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Orellana. For eight months, his squad sailed almost six thousand kilometers along the river. Most tourists who come to the Amazon take part in long hikes and canoeing on the river, at the same time getting acquainted with Amazonian forests and representatives of the local fauna.

Through the dense leaves and interlacing of vines under the crowns of trees, little light penetrates, and lush vegetation makes it difficult to move, completely depriving of orientation. To move even a short distance, it is often necessary to cut through the road. There are also floating islands on the river, slowly moving downstream. They are formed by intertwined plant roots and trunks of fallen trees, on which new vegetation has risen. For tourists there are many attractions: all kinds of river tours, trekking through the jungle, fishing for piranhas, night hunting for caimans.

On the vast expanses of the Amazonia, surprising with the richness of flora and fauna, about 1.5 million of the most diverse species of plants and animals live, this corner of the planet without exaggeration can be called the world's genetic foundation. According to scientists, there are more than 1,800 species of birds, 250 species of various mammals, about 2 thousand different species of fish and countless various invertebrates and insects per 10 km ? of tropical forest (many of their species are still not known to the scientific world).

In essence, Amazonia is a humid jungle and swamps that stretch along the equator, so the climatic conditions throughout the lowland are almost the same. The Amazon basin is distinguished by the most tropical tropical evergreen forest on Earth, whose climate is hot and humid, the air temperature is stable throughout the year, it constantly keeps + 25-28 degrees Celsius, even at night temperature almost never falls below + 20 degrees Celsius.

Forests are some of the most beautiful and magical places on Earth. Especially terrible is their destruction. Hundreds of species of living creatures annually lose their habitat. Deforestation for agricultural needs today has threatened the extinction of a million species. Forest fires are becoming more and more dangerous every year. If the situation does not change, a plague called deforestation could end in disaster. Forests produce the oxygen necessary for life and absorb carbon dioxide, which we exhale (or emit). It is estimated that one mature and leafy tree provides a daily oxygen supply of 2 to 10 people. Phytoplankton in the ocean is more fertile because it provides half of the Earth's oxygen, but forests remain a key source of quality air on the planet.

Forests provide us with shelter, livelihoods, water, food and fuel. Almost all human activities are directly or indirectly related to forests. Some of them are easy to list: wood mining, paper production, etc. Others are less obvious, but many everyday products (medicines, cosmetics, and detergents) include components found in forest herbs and trees. 80% of the Earth's biodiversity lives in forests. Insects and worms provide the soil with nutrients, bees and birds spread pollen and seeds, and wolves and large feline keep hungry and herbivorous animals at bay. Biodiversity is a key factor for both ecosystems and humans. Among other things, trees create vital shadow oases thanks to branches and leaves.

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