Amazon forest part : 1

One can't survive for a minute without lungs. Because lungs provide us with oxygen which is the most vital requirement for life. Do you know that, much like our lungs, our planet also has lungs which provide the planet with oxygen. Amazon forest produces 20% oxygen on our planet and are known as the lungs of earth.

Amazon, also known as Amazonia, is the world's largest forest, Spanned across 5.5 million square kilometers. According to wildlife experts and archaeologists, Amazon forest is almost 55 million years old. It covers an area of almost 20% of the whole south America. In other words, it is 7 times as large as a country like Pakistan.

In extends up to 9 countries including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Ghana and French Ghana. 60% of Amazon forest is in Brazil, 13% in Peru, 10% in Colombia, while the remaining 17% is in the other 6 countries.

About how Amazon got its name, it is believed that a Spanish tourist Francesco attempted to cross Amazon river in 1540. He came in conflict with a native tribe Tapuyas. Francesco saw native women fighting the battle. Those women resembled ancient Greek warrior women, the Amazons, in their looks. That's how the Amazon forest got its name.

• Amazon River and Streams :

Amazon river is the largest river by volume. It's as long as 6500km. One can imagine the size of this river by the fact that during dry season, its width averages between 3 to 9km. However, during rainy season, it gets as wide as 48km. To get an estimate about the volume of water in Amazon, consider the fact.. that the next 5 biggest rivers after Amazon, combined together, don't have as much water as Amazon. It is the second longest river after Nile. Nile is 300 km more in length as compared to Amazon. Water from Amazon falls in the Atlantic ocean. It constitutes one-fifth of all the fresh water going into oceans.

According to a research, 20% of earth's fresh water from Amazon flows into oceans at a rate of 219,000 cubits per second. For the sake of comparison, the flow rate of Indus river is only 25,485 cubits per second.

Almost 1100 water streams flow through the Amazon forest. Out of those, 17 streams are more than 1500 km in length. These water streams are a source of life for flora and fauna in the forest. And it is because of these streams, that the whole area gets rain throughout the year. One of these Amazon streams have boiling water. According to experts its temperature is 93-110 degrees centigrade. If some animals falls into this stream, it cannot come back alive.

• Animals and Insects

According to a safe estimate, almost 30% of the animals on earth, live in this forest. In the last 2 decades, 200 new species of animals, birds and insects have been discovered which are not found anywhere else. These animals also include different types of monkeys, jaguars and gorillas.

Other 430 new mammal species, Amazon is house to almost 1500 very rare species of birds. These include different species of eagles, parrots, sparrows, nightingales and many others. One of the more famous birds is Macau which is a large parrot with beautiful colors.

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