Amazon River Facts
Posted by Franklin Jose Navarro Pabon / in Science Facts
Boat travelling down the Amazon River
IMPORTANT FACTS
- The Amazon River is located in South America. It runs through 7 South American countries including Guyana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia.
- The Amazon River has different names throughout the different regions that it flows through, for example, in its confluence with the Rio Negro the natives call it Solimões.
- The Amazon's River length is approximately 6400 kilometers (4000 miles), making it the longest river in the world.
- The Amazon also has the most flow of any river in the world, over 5 times more than the second highest, the Congo River. The Amazon outlets into the Atlantic Ocean. Twenty percent of the freshwater that enters the Earth's Ocean comes from the Amazon River, and because the fresh water is lighter than sea water it flows on top of it, changing the color for about 1,000,000 square miles.
- The Amazon River can reach over 190 kilometers (120 miles) in width during the rainy season.
- The current shape of the river originated some 2.4 million years ago, however, the river itself is much older than that dating somewhere between 11.8 and 11.3 million years in the Miocene Era.
- The Rio Hamza is a river that runs underneath the Amazon River, it was recently discovered and it is believed to be 100 times wider than the Amazon River.
- Manaus, Brazil, is the largest city located along the Amazon River, Its home to 1.7 Million people.
- The Amazon Rainforest which is surrounded by the Amazon River is a tropical forest with the richest biodiversity in the entire world.
- The Amazon Rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world with over 5,500,000 square kilometers (over 2.1 million square miles).
- Even though the Amazon River is very long there are not many bridges that cross the river. This is because most of the Amazon River runs through rainforests and there are not many roads in these areas. People that cross the river in these areas have to cross by boat.
The Amazon River looks like a lake during the rainy season.
AMAZON RIVER ANIMAL FACTS
- Among the most commonly found creatures on the Amazon River are the Amazon manatee, tucuxi (a kind of river dolphin), piranhas, electric eels, black caiman and giant otters.
- The river is known to support turtles, crabs, algae and various microbes including Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Crenarchaeota.
- Twenty percent of the bird's species live in the Amazon River and Rainforest.
- It is home to over 2 million insect species and approximately 40000 species of plants.
- Even though new fish species are constantly being discovered in the Amazon River, it is estimated that roughly 3000 species have been identified.
- The Amazon River is home to the world's largest snake the Anaconda, they attack large animals like goats that get too close to the water.
- Also, Piranhas call the Amazon their home. This nightmarish type of fish eats meat and hunts in groups, praying on livestock that strays into the water.
- Not very much is known about their lifespan in the wild.
- Poison dart frogs are endangered. Scientists are studying their toxin to explore medical benefits.
The Amazon Manatee is a large mammal that eats vegetation.
Please select the social network you want to share this page with:
We like you too :)
Thanks for taking time to give us feedback!
posted by Franklin Jose Navarro Pabon. Franklin has been writing for 9 years on various topics. He currently lives in Venezuela. He has multiple University degrees including Engineering, Attorney and experience in communication and as a profession chef.