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The equatorial forests of South America are a huge forest area located near the equator and occupying more than 5 million square meters. km. Thanks to its geographical location and mild and comfortable climate, this region is home to an incredible number of species of animals and plants. In this topic we will learn the most interesting facts about the equatorial forests of South America.

Climate Features

The rainforests of South America are a real natural miracle, a unique natural complex that has no analogues in the whole world. They have several names: jungle, selva, gilei, permanently wet or rain forests.

The age of the South American jungle is impressive - it has existed on our planet for more than 150 million years, and once occupied 1/10 of the surface of the entire globe. However, as a result of climate change and active human activity, their area has decreased significantly.

Located in the equatorial climate zone, the selva is characterized by consistently warm weather throughout the year. The average temperature during the day reaches 35 degrees Celsius, and at night drops by 10-15 Celsius. At the same time, air humidity reaches almost 100%.

Local residents do not need weather forecasts: they themselves know perfectly well everything that will happen in nature. Closer to lunch, clouds will gather in the clear sky and fall to the ground in a soft, warm shower. Towards evening the sky will become clear again and the night will become starry. The next morning the weather will remain unchanged, and so on for many hundreds of years.

Rice. 1. Rain and thunderstorms in the countryside are a common occurrence

In addition to equatorial forests, there are 4 more classes of natural zones in South America:

TOP 4 articleswho are reading along with this

• savannas and woodlands;
• subtropical steppes;
• deserts and semi-deserts;
• temperate forests.

Vegetable world

The tropical forests of South America cover vast areas. Thanks to the large amount of vegetation, they produce a lot of oxygen, thereby enriching the Earth's atmosphere.

The forests of the South American tropics produce 20% of the world's oxygen. Thanks to their contribution, people and animals living in regions with sparse vegetation do not experience a shortage of this valuable gas. Even being thousands of kilometers away from the impenetrable jungle, we breathe the oxygen they produce. This is why it is so important to protect the “lungs of the planet.”

Rice. 2. Rainforest forests

Due to excessive density, the vegetation of the humid jungle grows “floor by floor”:

• The topmost floor or tier are occupied by real forest giants, sometimes growing up to 100 m. Their features include a long smooth trunk, turning into a dense crown only high above the ground - where the foliage receives the required amount of sunlight.
• Second tier occupied by the same trees, only slightly smaller in height.
• On the third floor low-growing trees densely entwined with vines are placed. Over many years of evolution, they have adapted to life under the shadow of their taller relatives.
• Fourth tier occupied by shrubs and subshrubs.
• On the fifth , the lowest floor, is dominated by mosses and lichens.

The equatorial forests are incredibly rich in vegetation: about 40 thousand of a wide variety of plants grow here, and this information is not complete, since the jungle has not yet been thoroughly explored. It would not be surprising if, after a while, scientists discover new, previously unknown plant specimens here.

Animal world

The fauna of the selva is no less rich and diverse than the flora. An incredible number of insects, reptiles, and birds live here. Monkeys, porcupines, sloths, anteaters and many other forest inhabitants have been able to adapt to life in humid forests.

There are not very many large land predators here - this is due to the almost complete lack of free space for hunting. The greatest threat is posed by bush dogs, pumas, and jaguars. The waters of the Amazon are much more dangerous - huge caimans, piranhas and electric stingrays live here. The jungle is also famous for the world's largest snake, the anaconda.

Rice. 3. Anaconda is the largest snake in the world

What have we learned?

When studying South America and its equatorial forests, we learned that the latter are of great value to the entire planet. Producing large amounts of oxygen, they create all the conditions for life on the globe. The flora and fauna of the humid tropics is incredibly diverse, because most of the varieties of flora and fauna of the Earth are represented here. Under no circumstances should anything be allowed to happen to the “lungs of the planet,” otherwise it will result in an environmental disaster.

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What is a jungle? It would seem that there should be no difficulty in answering this question. “Who doesn’t know this,” you say. “Jungles are impenetrable forests in hot countries, where there are many wild monkeys and tigers viciously waving their long tails.” But it's not that simple.

The word “jungle” became widely known to Europeans only a little over a hundred years ago, when in 1894-1895. Two “Jungle Books” were published, written by the then little-known English writer Rudyard Kipling.
Many of you know this writer very well; you have read his tales about a curious little elephant or how the alphabet was invented. But not everyone can answer the question of what is told in The Jungle Books.

And yet we can bet that almost everyone, even those who have never read Kipling, knows the main character of these books very well. How can this be? The answer is simple: when this book was translated into Russian and published for the first time in our country, its title was

The map of the distribution of jungles and other tropical forests has been modified. Now everyone knows it by the name of the main character - the Indian boy Mowgli, this name gave the name to the Russian translation.

Has Kipling really deceived us? In no case! This magnificent writer, the pride of English literature, was born in India and knew it very well. It is in this country that dense thickets of trees and shrubs intertwined with vines with bamboo groves and areas covered with tall grasses are called “jangal” or “jungle” in Hindi, which in Russian turned into the more convenient “jungle” for us. However, such thickets are characteristic exclusively of South and Southeast Asia (mainly the Hindustan and Indochina peninsulas).

But the popularity of Kipling’s books was so great, and the word “jungle” was so beautiful and unusual that many even well-educated people (of course, except for specialists - botanists and geographers) began to call any impenetrable forests and shrubs that way. Therefore, we are going to tell you many interesting stories about the mysterious forests of hot countries, not paying attention to the fact that only a very small part of them can rightfully be called jungle.
By the way, the confusion with the use of terms affected not only the word “jungle”: in English, all forests of hot countries, including jungles, are usually called tropical rain forests, not paying attention to the fact that they are mostly not located in tropical, and in the equatorial, subequatorial and even partially in the subtropical zones.

Most of us are familiar with temperate forests and their characteristics. We know which trees are found in coniferous forests and which ones are found in deciduous forests, and we have a good idea of ​​what the grasses and shrubs growing there look like. It would seem that “a forest is also a forest in Africa,” but if you were in the equatorial forest of Congo or Indonesia, in the tropical forests of America or in the Indian jungle, you would see a lot of unusual and surprising things.
Let's get acquainted with some of the features of these forests, with their bizarre plants and unique animals, learn about the people living there and about those scientists and travelers who devoted their lives to studying them.

The mysteries of the jungle have always attracted the curious; Today we can probably safely say that most of these secrets have already been revealed; This, as well as what still remains a mystery, will be discussed in our book. Let's start with the equatorial forests.

It is difficult to find a spy who would have as many nicknames (sometimes even contradictory in meaning) as there are names for these forests. Equatorial forests, tropical rain forests, hylea*, selva, jungle (however, you already know that this name is erroneous) and, finally, a term that you can find in school or scientific atlases - permanently humid (equatorial) forests.

* HYLEIAN FOREST, GILEIA (Greek hyle - forest) - a tropical forest primarily in the Amazon River basin (South America). The Hylean forest is the concentration of the most ancient flora of the Earth. There is no drought in the Hylean forests and there are virtually no seasonal temperature changes. Hylean forests are characterized by multi-tiered forests, an incredible diversity of plants (about 4 thousand species of trees alone), and an abundance of vines and epiphytes. Hylean forests contain numerous valuable tree species, such as cocoa, Hevea rubber, and bananas. In a broad sense, hylea refers to the equatorial forests of South America, Central Africa and the islands of Oceania (editor's note).

Even the great English scientist Alfred Wallace, who in many ways anticipated the basic principles of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, being a biologist, did not particularly think about why, when describing the equatorial belt, he called the forests growing there tropical. The explanation is quite simple: a century and a half ago, when talking about climate zones, only three were usually distinguished: polar (aka cold), temperate and hot (tropical). And the tropics, especially in English-speaking countries, called the entire territory located between parallels 23°2T. w. and Yu. w. These parallels themselves were also often called the tropics: 23°27" N - the Tropic of Cancer, and 23°27" S. w. - Tropic of Capricorn.

We hope that this confusion will not lead to you forgetting everything that is taught to you in geography lessons now, in the 21st century. To prevent this from happening, we will tell you about all types of forests in more detail.

Forests, not much different from modern rain forests, appeared on our planet about 150 million years ago. True, then there were much more coniferous trees, many of which have now disappeared from the face of the Earth. Several thousand years ago, these forests covered up to 12% of the earth's surface; now their area has decreased to 6%, and it continues to decline rapidly. And 50 million years ago, even the British Isles were covered with such forests - their remains (primarily pollen) were discovered by English botanists.

In general, pollen and spores of most plants are perfectly preserved for thousands and even millions of years. From these microscopic particles, scientists have learned to recognize not only the species to which the specimens they found belong, but also the age of the plants, which helps determine the age of various rocks and geological structures. This method is called spore-pollen analysis.

Currently, equatorial forests themselves have been preserved only in South America, Central Africa, the Malay Archipelago, which Wallace explored 150 years ago, and on some islands of Oceania. More than half of them are concentrated within just three countries: 33% in Brazil and 10% each in Indonesia and Congo, a state that constantly changes its name (until recently it was Zaire).

To help you gain a detailed understanding of this type of forest, we will tell you one by one about its climate, waters and vegetation.
Constantly wet (equatorial) forests are confined to the equatorial climate zone. The equatorial climate is depressingly monotonous. This is where it truly is “winter and summer - one color”! You've probably heard something like this in weather reports or in your parents' conversations: “There's a cyclone coming, now wait for snowfalls.” Or: “Somehow the anticyclone has stagnated, the heat will increase, and there will be no rain.” This does not happen at the equator - hot and humid equatorial air masses dominate there all year round, never giving way to colder or drier air. Average summer and winter temperatures differ there by no more than 2-3 °C, and daily temperatures fluctuate little. There are no temperature records here either - although equatorial latitudes receive the most solar heat, the thermometer rarely rises above + 30 °C and falls below + 15 °C. Precipitation here is only about 2000 mm per year (in other places on the globe it can be more than 24,000 mm per year).

But a “day without rain” in equatorial latitudes is a practically unknown phenomenon. Local residents do not need weather forecasters at all: they already know what the weather will be like tomorrow. Every morning the sky is cloudless here all year round. By mid-afternoon, clouds begin to gather and invariably burst into the infamous “afternoon showers.” A strong wind rises, from powerful clouds, to the accompaniment of deafening peals of thunder, streams of water fall onto the ground. In “one sitting” 100-150 mm of precipitation can fall here. After 2-3 hours the rain stops and a clear, quiet night sets in. The stars are shining brightly, the air is becoming a little cooler, and fog is accumulating in the lowlands. The air humidity here is also constant - you always feel as if you found yourself in a greenhouse on a hot summer day.

Jungle Peru

The jungle is majestic, fascinating and...cruel.

Three-fifths of the territory of Peru, its eastern part (selva), is occupied by endless humid equatorial forest. In the vast jungle there are two main areas: the so-called. the high selva (in Spanish la selva alta) and the low selva (la selva baja). The first occupies the southern, elevated part of the Selva, the second the northern, low-lying part adjacent to the Amazon. The foothill areas of the High Selva (or La Montagna, as it is sometimes called), with better drainage conditions, are more favorable for the development of land for tropical crops and livestock. The Ucayali and Madre de Dios river valleys with their tributaries are especially favorable for development.

The abundance of moisture and uniform heat throughout the year contribute to the growth of lush vegetation in the rural areas. The species composition of the Peruvian selva (more than 20 thousand species) is very rich, especially in non-flooded areas. It is clear that the selva is inhabited primarily by animals that lead an arboreal lifestyle (monkeys, sloths, etc.). There are a huge number of birds here. There are relatively few predators, and some of them (jaguar, ocelot, jaguarundi) are good tree climbers. The main prey of jaguar and puma is tapir, wild peccary pigs and capybara, the largest rodent in the world. The ancient Incas called the area of ​​the jungle "Omagua", which means "place where fish are found."
Indeed, in the Amazon itself and its tributaries there are more than a thousand species of fish. Among them is the huge pancha (arapaima), reaching 3.5 m in length and more than 250 kg in weight, the largest freshwater fish in the world.
In the selva there are many poisonous snakes and the largest snake on Earth, the anaconda (locally called yakumama). A lot of insects. It is not without reason that they say that in the jungle under every flower there is at least one insect.
The rivers are called the "main roads of the rainforest." Even the “forest” Indians avoid going far from river valleys.
Such roads must be periodically cut through with a machete, getting rid of fast-growing vines, otherwise they will become overgrown (in one of the photos in the group’s album you can see a picture where Indians armed with machetes are busy clearing the road).
In addition to the rivers in the selva, varadero trails laid in the forest are used for transportation, leading from one river to another through the forest. The economic importance of rivers is also great. Along the Marañon, ships rise to the rapids of Pongo Manceriche, and the port and main economic center of the Iquitos village, located 3,672 km from the mouth of the Amazon, receives large sea vessels.

Pucallpa, on Ucayali, is the second largest river port, and indeed the city itself, in the Peruvian jungle.

http://www.leslietaylor.net/company/company.html (link to an interesting site about the Amazon jungle (English)

The Indians have a saying: “The gods are strong, but the jungle is much stronger and more merciless.” However, for the Indian, the jungle is both shelter and food... this is their life, their reality.

What is the jungle for a European spoiled by civilization? “green hell”...At first bewitching, and then it can drive you crazy...

One of the travelers once said about the jungle: “It is incredibly beautiful when you look at it from the outside, and depressingly cruel when you look at it from the inside.”

The Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier expressed himself even harsher about the rainforest jungle: “The silent war continued in the depths, filled with thorns and hooks, where everything seemed like a huge ball of snakes.”
Jacek Palkiewicz, Andrzej Kaplanek. "In Search of the Golden Eldorado":

"...Someone said that a man in a wild forest experiences two joyful minutes. The first is when he realizes that his dreams have come true and he has found himself in the world of untouched nature, and the second is when, having endured the struggle with cruel nature, with insects, malaria and his own weakness, returns to the bosom of civilization." A jump without a parachute, 10 days of wandering through the jungle of a 17-year-old girl, when everything ended well ( ):

"... About half an hour after the flight of the Lansa airline took off from the capital of Peru, Lima, to the city of Pucallpa (Loreto department), which is half a thousand kilometers northeast of the capital, a strong bump began. So strong that the flight attendant strongly advised passengers In general, nothing special happened: air pockets in the tropics are a common occurrence, and the passengers of a small airliner that was descending remained calm, but the window glass became covered with rain streaks, and the plane began to throw up and down and left and right with redoubled force. , 17-year-old Juliana Kepke was sitting next to her mother, looking out the window and anticipating the joy of meeting her father in Pucallpa. Outside the plane, despite the daytime, it was quite dark - because of the hanging clouds, suddenly lightning flashed very close. There was a deafening roar. A moment later, the lightning went out, but darkness did not come again - an orange light remained: it was their plane that was burning as a result of a direct lightning strike. A scream rose up in the cabin and utter panic began. But they were not allowed to last long: the fuel tanks exploded, and the liner shattered into pieces.

The day before Christmas, that is, December 23, 1971, people who met the plane from Lima at Pucallpa airport did not wait for it. Among those who met was the biologist Kepke. In the end, the worried people were sadly informed that, apparently, the plane had crashed. A search was immediately launched, involving the military, rescue teams, oil companies, and enthusiasts. The liner's route was known very precisely, but days passed, and searches in the tropical wilds did not yield results: what could have remained of the plane and its passengers disappeared without a trace. In Peru they began to get used to the idea that the mystery of this plane crash would never be revealed. And then, in the first days of January, sensational news spread around Peru: in the rural areas of the Huanuco department, the passenger of that same lost Lansa airline plane, Juliana Kepke, came out to people - that’s what she called herself. Having survived her fall from a bird's eye view, the girl wandered alone in the jungle for 10 days. It was an incredible, double miracle! Let's leave the solution to the first miracle for last and talk about the second - how a 17-year-old girl, dressed only in a light dress, managed to hold out in the jungle without anything for 10 whole days. Juliana Koepke woke up hanging from a tree. The chair to which she was fastened, which was one piece with a huge duralumin sheet from an airliner, got caught on the branch of a tall tree. It was still raining; it was pouring down like buckets. A storm roared, thunder roared, lightning flashed in the darkness, and the forest, sparkling in their light with myriads of lights scattered in the wet foliage of the trees, retreated back, so that the next moment it would envelop the girl in a frightening, impenetrably dark bulk. Soon the rain stopped, and a solemn, guarded silence reigned in the village. Juliana was scared. Without closing her eyes, she hung on the tree until the morning.
It had already noticeably brightened when a cacophonous chorus of howler monkeys greeted the beginning of a new day in the jungle. The girl freed herself from the seat belts and carefully climbed down from the tree to the ground. So, the first miracle happened: Juliana Kepke, the only one of all the people on the plane that crashed, remained alive. She was alive, although not unharmed: she had a cracked collarbone, a painful lump on her head, and a large abrasion on her thigh.

The wanderer had less and less strength, and the river endlessly wound through the boundless jungle. The girl wanted to die - she was almost broken morally. And suddenly - on the 10th day of her wanderings - Juliana came across a boat tied to a tree bent over the river. Looking around, she noticed a hut not far from the shore. It’s not hard to imagine the joy and surge of strength she felt! Somehow the sufferer dragged herself to the hut and collapsed in front of the door, exhausted. She doesn’t remember how long she lay there like that. I woke up from a downpour. The girl forced herself with all her strength to crawl inside the hut - the door, of course, was not locked. For the first time in 10 days and nights, she found a roof over her head. Juliana couldn't sleep that night. She listened to the sounds: if people were coming towards her, although she knew that she was waiting in vain - no one walks in the jungle at night. Then the girl finally fell asleep.

In the morning she felt better and began to wonder what to do.
Someone had to come to the hut sooner or later - it had a completely lived-in appearance. Juliana was unable to move - neither walk nor swim. And she decided to wait. Towards the end of the day - the 11th day of Juliana Koepke's reluctant adventure - voices were heard outside, and a few minutes later two men entered the hut. First people in 11 days! These were Indian hunters. They treated the girl’s wounds with some kind of infusion, having previously picked out the worms from them, fed her and forced her to sleep.

The next day she was taken to the Pucallpa hospital. There she met her father..."
The third highest waterfall in the world in the Peruvian countryside

In December 2007, the third highest waterfall in the world was found in Peru.

In addition to revising the height of Yumbilla, scientists made another amendment: it was previously believed that the waterfall consists of three streams. Now there are four of them. The country's Ministry of Tourism plans to organize two-day tours to the Yumbilla, Gosta and Chinata waterfalls (540 meters).

(www.travel.ru)

Ecologists from Peru found a hidden Indian tribe (October, 2007):

Peruvian environmentalists discovered an unknown Indian tribe while flying through the Amazon region in a helicopter in search of poachers cutting down forests, writes BBC News.

A group of 21 Indian men, women and children, as well as three palm huts, were photographed and filmed from the air on the banks of the Las Piedras River in the Alto Purus National Park in the southeast of the country near the border with Brazil. Among the Indians there was a woman with arrows who made aggressive movements towards the helicopter, and when environmentalists decided to make a second approach, the tribe disappeared into the jungle.

According to environmentalist Ricardo Hon, officials discovered other huts along the river. They are a nomadic group, he emphasizes, noting that the government has no plans to seek out the tribe again. Interaction with other people can be fatal for an isolated tribe, since it has no immunity against many diseases, including common viral respiratory infections. Thus, most of the Murunahua tribe, which came into contact with loggers in the mid-90s of the last century, became extinct.

The contact was fleeting, but its consequences will be considerable as this stretch of the Amazon region, which lies 550 miles (760 km) west of Lima, is the center of a fight by indigenous rights groups and environmentalists against poachers and oil companies operating here. geological exploration. The relentless advance of loggers forces isolated groups, including the Mashco-Piro and Yora tribes, deeper into the jungle, moving towards the borders with Brazil and Bolivia.

Similar huts were discovered in the region in the 1980s, giving rise to speculation that the Mashco Piro build temporary shelters on river banks during the dry season, when fishing is easier, and return back to the jungle during the rainy season. Some members of the Mashko-Piro, who number about 600, associate with more sedentary groups, but most avoid contact with other people.

According to experts, there are about 15 isolated tribes living in Peru.
Facts about the rich life and vital resources that the tropics share with us:

1. About 1,500 species of flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies grow on an area of ​​6.5 square meters.

2. The tropics provide us with such important resources as wood, coffee, cocoa, and various medical materials, including anti-cancer drugs.

3. According to the US National Cancer Institute, 70% of plants growing in the tropics have anti-cancer properties.

***
Facts about possible dangers to tropical forests, local people and living creatures living in the tropics:

1. In 1500 AD there were approximately 6 million natives living in the Amazon rainforest. But along with the forests, their inhabitants began to disappear. In the early 1900s, there were fewer than 250,000 natives living in the Amazon forest.

2. As a result of the disappearance of the tropics, only 673 million hectares of tropical forests remain on Earth.

3. Given the rate of extinction of the tropics, 5-10% of tropical animal and plant species will disappear every decade.

4. Almost 90% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty depend on tropical forests.

5. 57% of the world's tropics are located in developing countries.

6. Every second, a section of tropical forest the size of a football field disappears from the face of the Earth. Thus, 86,400 “football fields” disappear per day, and more than 31 million per year.

Brazil and Peru will develop joint projects to produce biofuel. (18.0.2008):

Brazil and Peru have agreed on joint projects to increase the production of biofuels, hydroelectricity and petrochemicals, the Associated Press reports, citing a statement by the Peruvian presidential administration. The leaders of the two countries signed 10 different agreements in the field of energy following a meeting in the capital of Peru, Lima. As part of one of them, the Peruvian state oil company Petroperu and the Brazilian Petroleo Brasileiro SA agreed on their intention to build an oil refinery in northern Peru with a production capacity of 700 million tons of polyethylene per year.
Brazil is the world's largest supplier of biofuels - ethanol.

Amazon turned out to be the longest
river in the world (07/03/08)

The Amazon is still the longest river in the world. This was reported by the Brazilian National Center for Space Research (INPE).

The center's experts studied the waterway flowing in the north of the South American continent using satellite data. In their calculations, they took as a basis the results of an expedition carried out last year by scientists from Brazil and Peru.

Then the researchers reached the source of the Amazon, located in the Peruvian Andes, at an altitude of 5 thousand meters. They have solved one of geography's greatest mysteries by finding the birthplace of a river that crosses Peru, Colombia and Brazil before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. This point is located in the mountains in the south of Peru, and not in the north of the country, as previously thought.

At the same time, scientists installed several satellite beacons, which greatly facilitated the task for experts from INPE.

Now, according to the National Center for Space Research, the length of the Amazon is 6992.06 km, while the Nile flowing in Africa is 140 km shorter (6852.15 km). This makes the South American river not only the deepest, but also the longest in the world, ITAR-TASS notes.

Until now, the Amazon has been officially recognized as the deepest river, but in length it has always been considered second after the Nile (Egypt).

In South America, near the equator, there is an amazing huge green area full of diverse life forms. The warm climate of this area and abundant rain allow a wide variety of plants and living organisms to develop in the forests. This area is a very unusual part of the earth, but very important because the forests are home to many animals and also produce a lot of oxygen, which is why they are called the “lungs of the planet.” Here are just a few interesting facts about tropical forests.

Climate

Green areas located at the equator of the planet appeared in prehistoric times. Their age is 150 million years. Once upon a time these were huge tracts of plants that occupied more than 10% of the globe. But over time, as a result of climate change and human activity, their area has decreased significantly.

The majority of forests are in South America. A large area of ​​green space is found in Brazil, with smaller portions of the prehistoric forest distributed among other Latin American countries. The scientific name for equatorial forest is gil, but in Brazil it is called selva. This is the word used to describe the green sea of ​​equatorial vegetation in the world.

The forests located in the equatorial zone are warm and humid. The weather here is usually hot. The green areas maintain stable weather throughout the year. During the day the heat reaches 35 degrees Celsius. At night the air retains heat at 20 degrees. The humidity is around 100%.

It rains almost every day. The clouds gather in the morning, and around midday a downpour falls on the jungle. By evening the rain stops and clear skies hover over the area. The starry night turns into morning, and clouds begin to gather in the sky again. And this climate does not change from day to day throughout the year.

Vegetation

Equatorial forests of South America and interesting facts about vegetation. The vast tract of tropical rainforest produces a lot of oxygen. The contribution of the selva to the earth's atmosphere is so great that it makes it possible for living beings and humans to live in those areas where there is not a sufficient number of green plants. In cities and villages, on roads and fields, in steppes and deserts, we breathe oxygen produced in the green belt of Latin America. Therefore, the equatorial jungle must be protected from extinction, otherwise we will lose a powerful source of oxygen on earth.

Due to the abundant vegetation, the green area is divided into separate floors. The tallest trees in equatorial forests grow up to 100 meters. They have smooth trunks, the crown is located only in the upper part. The second tier from the top is formed by the same trees, only lower in height. The third tier is occupied by lower trees, tightly entwined with vines. The fourth tier is inhabited by shrubs, and the fifth tier is occupied by lichens and mosses actively developing in a favorable environment.

The sun penetrates into the greenery to a certain level. Below, due to the density of plants, there is almost no sunlight, and twilight always reigns in the forest. Due to the specific structure of nature, plants that do not like bright sun develop well in the lower part.

An unusually rich flora and fauna develops and lives in a favorable environment. The scientific world knows 40 thousand different plant species. A variety of animals, insects and exotic butterflies bring the jungle to life. It contains trees that produce coffee and cocoa, which are loved all over the world.

In addition, the tropical forest is a huge natural pharmacy; there are many medicinal plants.

Population

The green sea surrounding the Amazon is home to many people. These are local residents, Indians. Now up to 250 thousand people live in the forest thickets of South America, representing 200 ethnic groups and speaking 170 dialects.

Once upon a time there were much more Indians living in the forests than there are now. Europeans brought many diseases to which the Indians had no immunity. Therefore, the simplest infections that a white person suffers practically on his feet can become fatal for the inhabitants of the rural areas. The governments of South American countries do not encourage the development of contacts between the civilized world and forest dwellers. The influence of Europeans also has positive sides - they brought Christianity, as well as the achievements of European civilization.

The array of greenery is so dense and impassable that you can very easily get lost in the forests of South America. But they have waterways of movement. The Amazon River and its tributaries serve as the most convenient road for travel. The local population moves along it. If for some reason people are forced to go deeper into a dense forest, they keep the river in sight as an opportunity to get out of the jungle. Separate waterways are connected by land roads. Local residents are monitoring their condition. The roads are regularly overgrown with vines, and the Indians cut down the excess greenery. Secondary routes of movement are called varaderos.

The main transport system of the jungle, the Amazon River, broke many world records when studied. The length of its canals is the longest in the world. It also has a waterfall that reaches a height of almost 900 meters.

The Amazon is home to dangerous fish - piranhas, as well as the black caiman - a crocodile that reaches a length of up to five meters. Also, blunt-nosed sharks (bull sharks) swim here, which can live in fresh water and pose a danger to humans. Sharks were seen near the city of Iquitos, which is located 4,000 thousand kilometers from the mouth of the river.

The largest snake in the world lives here - the anaconda, which reaches a length of up to 10 meters. The record for the length of the anaconda is 18 meters, this snake was described by the traveler Percy Fossett. The dense thickets of the jungle are home to a third of the world's birds, exotic fish, and many endangered species of living creatures.

Selva is very beautiful, but also cruel. It's easy and simple to die here. In a humid climate, even a scratch on the body quickly begins to fester, and the animal world constantly threatens to destroy a person. But it is so beautiful here, the nature is so diverse that thousands of daredevils visit this large tropical forest every year to observe the life of this ecosystem.

Selva is the tropical forest of the Amazon - the region around the river of the same name and its tributaries. This area is a vast area in central and northern South America covered with dense vegetation. It has the greatest biodiversity on the planet. The territory covers Northern Brazil and parts of Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia.

What is selva?

Scientists from different countries do not give clear answers to this seemingly simple question. In the academic environment of Russia, the forest is usually considered to be a specific territory within the world's largest river basin, the Amazon.

Western scientists believe that the selva is the equatorial forests of the Earth. In addition to South America, they are located in the Congo River basin (Africa) and on the islands of Southeast Asia - Kalimantan, Sumatra, the Philippines, New Guinea and others. A number of experts even extend this concept to everything. Answering the question of what a jungle is, we will still focus on the opinion of domestic scientists.

Ecosystem

Amazon forests develop under conditions of year-round high temperatures and high humidity, which favors the development of dense and lush evergreen vegetation. Selva is the “lungs of the planet”. The amount of green mass here is so great that it absorbs and processes thousands of tons of carbon dioxide, simultaneously releasing life-giving oxygen.

Unfortunately, local residents have no reverence for their national, even world heritage. Vast areas of the jungle are illegally cut down for agricultural needs. The use of pesticides and fertilizers destroys the ecosystem. This causes irreparable environmental damage to the entire planet. The situation is aggravated by the construction of a transcontinental highway between Brazil and Peru, passing through the southern regions of the jungle.

Flora

A photo of the jungle will certainly amaze an outside observer with an endless sea of ​​greenery stretching from horizon to horizon. 20% of the world's plant species are found in the Amazon forests. Thus, in the lagoons along the Amazon River, an amazing aquatic plant Victoria amazonica with large round leaves grows. They can grow over a meter in diameter and can support the weight of a child afloat.

Selva is a multi-tiered jungle with an incredible number of trees of all kinds. The following trees grow here: itahuba, karikari, tajibos, cedar, barsina rue, mandrilo and others. About 50% of tree species are exotic, and a significant portion are endemic. In pursuit of the sun's rays, tropical trees grow up to 30 m or more. Their services are used by lianas, orchids and saprophytes. On the lower tier near the ground there is partial shade where mushrooms and lichens thrive.

In this biological environment there is the highest competition for a place in the sun. And the Brazil nut rises like a real giant above the sea of ​​greenery. This 45-meter giant lives up to 1000 years, and their nut seeds remain viable for decades.

Wild flowers of incredible beauty and diversity are found here throughout the entire territory from the river lowlands to the foothills of the mountains. Here you can find many types of medicinal plants that can treat a wide range of diseases:

• ulcers;
• asthma;
• snake bites;
• blood problems;
• heart diseases;
• respiratory diseases;
• stomatitis;
• digestive problems, etc.

Fauna

Although the selva of South America cannot boast of such giants of the animal world as elephants, lions, bison, moose, and bears, it is distinguished by its incredible species diversity. Mammals of the Amazon are represented by a large number of species. These are monkeys, armadillos, jaguars, pumas, kumaras, anteaters, tapirs, deer, bats, sloths, etc. Manatees and two species of dolphins live in its waters.

The described region is a paradise for reptiles: aquatic and terrestrial lizards, gharials, snakes (including the anaconda - the largest in the world). Over 100,000 species of insects inhabit this area, and every year scientists discover more and more new representatives.

No other ecosystem in the world can boast so many bird species. Among them: macaws, toucans, large eagles, hummingbirds and other birds famous for their bright “floral” plumage. In total, 20% of the world's bird diversity has been found in the jungle.

The waters are home to 2,000 species of fish (a third of the planet's freshwater inhabitants). Some of them are so amazing that it is difficult to believe in their existence. Among the most famous are piranhas, electric eels, giant arapaima, lungfish lepidosirenus, and numerous aquarium fish of incredible colors.

The Mystery of Eldorado

Oddly enough, the Amazon was not always covered with impenetrable jungle. As a result of sensational archaeological discoveries via satellites, numerous settlements were discovered at the site of clearings. They were small fortified villages scattered over a large area. Thus, the legend of the conquistadors about the country of Eldorado, lost in the Amazon forests, has very real roots.