The majority of people know it is the Amazon is the largest rainforest on Earth However, here are ten other facts you need to be aware of about the Amazon. Here are some amazing Facts About Amazon Rainforest!
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Facts About Amazon Rainforest
- The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest. It is larger than the next two biggest rainforests in Indonesia’s Congo Basin and Indonesia.
- With 6.9 million square km (2.72 million square miles), the Amazon Basin is roughly the size of the contiguous forty-eight United States and covers some 40% of the South American continent. Its “Amazon rainforest,” — which is defined as biogeographically including the Amazon rainforest that is located in the Guianas that technically fall outside of the Amazon Basin — covers 7.8-8.2 million square kilometers (3-3.2 million square miles) with only a little more than 80 percent is forest.
- The Amazon River is the world’s biggest river in volume, carrying over five times the amount in the Congo and twelve times the volume from the Mississippi. It is as large as the contiguous forty-eight United States and has over 1,100 tributaries. Seventeen of that are greater than 1000 miles.
- It is believed that the Amazon River once flowed westward instead of eastward like it is today. The rising of the Andes led to it flowing through the Atlantic Ocean.
- The Amazon is estimated to include 16,000 tree species and 390 billion trees.
- The majority of the Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil.
- The Amazon is thought to be home to 2.5 million insect species. The majority of the Amazon rainforest species are believed to reside under the canopy.
- Seventy percent of South America’s GDP is produced by areas that receive rain or water directly from the Amazon. The Amazon can influence rainfall patterns as far as the United States.
- Cattle ranching accounts for about 70% of the Deforestation in the Amazon.
- The Amazon rainforest was on an upward trend from 2004 until 2012, mainly due to the decreasing rate of Deforestation in Brazil. There are many reasons for this decrease, such as macroeconomic trends, the creation of protected zones and indigenous territories, better law enforcement, improved monitoring of Deforestation using satellites, and pressure from environmental groups and private sector initiatives. But the trend has changed since 2013, and Deforestation is expected to occur in the Brazilian Amazon by 2021. at the highest level since 2008.
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