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- The Amazon is the world's biggest rainforest, larger than the next two largest rainforests — in the Congo Basin and Indonesia — combined.
- At 6.9 million square kilometers (2.72 million square miles), the Amazon Basin is roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States and covers some 40 percent of the South American continent. The "Amazon rainforest" — which defined biogeographically includes the rainforest in the Guianas, which technically are outside the Amazon Basin — covers 7.8-8.2 million square km (3-3.2 million square mi), of which just over 80 percent is forested.
- The Amazon River is by far the world's largest river by volume. It has over 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are longer than 1000 miles.
- The Amazon River once flowed west-ward instead of east-ward as it does today. The rise of the Andes caused it to flow into the Atlantic Ocean.
- The Amazon is estimated to have 16,000 tree species and 390 billion individual trees
- Nearly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest is found in Brazil.
- The Amazon is thought to have 2.5 million species of insects. More than half the species in the Amazon rainforest are thought to live in the canopy.
- 70 percent of South America's GDP is produced in areas that receive rainfall or water from the Amazon. The Amazon influences rainfall patterns as far away as the United States.
- Cattle ranching accounts for roughly 70 percent of deforestation in the Amazon.
- It covers most of the Amazon Basin in South America. The basin is 2.7 million square miles while the Amazon covers 2.1 million square miles of it. If the Amazon rainforest was a country, it would rank 9th in size.
- The Amazon rainforest is also referred to as the ‘Lungs of the Planet' because it produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen.
- The toucan is the loudest creature in the Amazon. You can hear it as far as a half-mile away.
- There are approximately 3000 fruits that grow in the rainforest that are edible.
- There are over 40,000 different plant species and approximately 2.5 million insect species in the Amazon rainforest.
- The Amazon rainforest is home to 10% of the known species in the world.
- The nine nations that have the Amazon rainforest in their borders are Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Brazil has 60%, Peru has 13%, and Colombia has 10% while other countries have very small parts of the rainforest within their borders.
- The Amazon rainforest has existed for at least 55 million years. The Amazon rainforest is home to a very diverse range of species, many of which are not found elsewhere in the world.
- The Amazon is arguably the longest river in the world at 6,992 km and contains more water than the Mississippi, Nile, and the Yangtze combined.
- The name 'Amazon' was given by Spanish explorer Francisco Orellana after he was attacked by female warriors named theIcamiabas, or 'women without husbands'. He compared them to the Amazons of Greek mythology.
- More than 80% of the world's food has its origins in the Amazon rainforest.
- One hectare (2.47 acres) of the rainforest can contain more than 750 types of tree and 1,500 types of plant.
- The Amazon delivers 55 million gallons of water into the Atlantic ocean every second.
- The Amazon has an incredibly rich ecosystem – there are around 40,000 plant species, 1,300 bird species, 3,000 types of fish, 430 mammals and a whopping 2.5 million different insects.
- This amazing forest is over 2.2 million square miles large and it is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. If you would lay the Amazon out over the United States, it would cover over half of it!
- An estimated 16,000 different tree species and 390 billion trees grow in the Amazon Rainforest.
- The Amazon Rainforest is a tropical rainforest. Tropical rainforests are found in a region known as the tropics, which are located near the equator.
- An incredible number of plants grow in the Amazon Rainforest. These range from carnivorous pitcher plants that trap and eat their insect prey; towering kapok trees that grow up to 70 m (230 ft.) high; and Amazonian water lilies whose leaves can be over 2 meters in diameter.
- The most common tree in the Amazon Rainforest is the Euterpe precatoria, a pine tree which grows up to 20 meters tall. Its fruit is edible, and are eaten by native people. Other common trees include the rubber tree, which produces latex used to make rubber, and walking palms, which have unusual, stilt-like roots.
- Plants in the Amazon rainforest don’t always grow on the ground! Many species actually grow on other plants. Epiphytes, which include orchids and bromeliads, grow on trees, usually in the canopy layer. The epiphytes growing in a single tree can weigh several tonnes.
- Around 80% of the food we eat originally came from rainforests. Some of the more popular examples include coffee, chocolate, rice, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, black pepper, pineapples, and corn. We basically live on coffee in America and some other countries. That’s reason enough to save the rainforest =)
- Tropical rainforests only cover about 6% of the Earth’s surface, but they are home to more than half the world’s total plant and animal species.
- The rainforests have begun to be destroyed in the last 100 years to make way for farm land. Today, the rainforests are being destroyed by 1.5 acres every second.
- With deforestation continuing at such a fast rate, we’ve created the most rapid extinction rate in the history of the world. 137 rainforest species are exterminated completely every single day.
- A quarter of the western medicine pharmaceuticals used today has rainforest based ingredients that originate from the Amazon rainforest. Currently, over 120 drugs come from plant-derived sources and 70% of the plants identified as active against cancer cells come from the rainforest. It is even believed that the cure for cancer may be found in the Amazon rainforest.
- The toucan is the loudest creature in the Amazon. It is a brilliantly colored arboreal fruit-eating bird, which aids to give it camouflage in the tropical rainforest.
- The Kapok tree is the tallest in the Amazon. The tree can grow to lengths of 200 ft towering over the other rainforest vegetation.
- The Amazon rainforest acts as a carbon sink. Because of its vastness, the Amazon rainforest absorbs and stores carbon dioxide. The rainforest, therefore, plays a crucial role in maintaining global carbon levels.
- According to the U.S Geological Survey (link sends e-mail), the total length of the Amazon River is 4,000 miles (or 6,437 kilometers), which would make it the second-longest river in the world after the Nile River in Egypt (at 4,132 miles/6,650 kilometers). Other surveys put its length at 4,345 miles, which would make it the world’s longest river.
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