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Characteristics Of The Amazon Rainforest

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Its unique environment and biodiversity
The Amazon River Basin is named as one of the 7 wonders of nature. It covers nearly 2,700,000 square miles. There are eight countries that fall within the border of the Amazon River Basin; they are Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname, and Guiana. The Amazon rainforest covers 2,100,000 of those miles. To give you a greater sense of the size, the rainforest is about the size of the United States. It is estimated to have 16,000 tree species and 30 percent of the world’s species found there, and over 90% of the animal species in the Amazon are insects. The Amazon rainforest is one of Earth's last refuges for jaguars, harpy eagles and pink dolphins, and home to thousands of birds and butterflies. Tree-dwelling species include southern two-toed sloths, pygmy marmosets, saddleback and emperor tamarins, and Goeldi's monkeys. (World Wildlife Fund. n.d.) We do know there are 40,000 plant species, and 3,000 freshwater fish species and more than 370 types of reptiles. But people live there too, it’s estimated that 20 million people live in the rainforest. (World Wildlife Fund. n.d.)

Its importance to humans
The Amazon rainforest, which is also referred to as a “natural sink” is a major warrior in the war on global warming. While humans are burning fossil fuels and using gas, oil and coal carbon dioxide is pouring into the atmosphere. Trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide use it for photosynthesis, then release clean oxygen. (Oskin, B. 2014, March 20) Then you have the Amazon river that meanders through the rainforest teeming with life and home to some of the biggest fish in the world. It’s a main route of transportation for food and supplies to towns and villages. Twenty percent of the world’s water comes from the Amazon river. (Amazonaid. 2017, August 14)
Examples of how human activities affect the rainforest and how this, in turn, can impact humans
The greatest cause of destruction to the Amazon rainforest is humans. Whether we have good intentions or not the Amazon is in need of saving. Currently the Amazon River and its banks and channels are being mined for gold and other precious metals. Extraction methods are seemingly barbaric, blasting

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