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Amazon facts1.?The Amazon is the world’s largest?tropical?rainforest.?Covering over?5.5 million square kilometres,?it’s?so?big that the UK and Ireland would fit into it 17 times!2.??The Amazon is found in South America, spanning across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.3.?Running through the north of the rainforest is the?Amazon River?— a network of many hundreds of waterways that stretches?6,840km. Although there is some debate, most scientists agree that the Amazon is the world’s second longest river after the River Nile.4.?In 2007, a man named?Martin Strel?swam the entire length of the Amazon river! To complete his splashing jungle journey, Martin powered through the water for up to ten hours a day for 66 days!5.?Around 400-500 indigenous??tribes call the Amazon rainforest home. It’s believed that about fifty of these tribes have never had contact with the outside world!Central American Rainforests:-The area was once all covered by trees. They have been cut down by humans over 100s of years-It is the most deforested rainforest in the world-Three-toed-Sloths are native to these forests but many have died from human interference-The rainforest has shrunk by 23% in the last 15 years to make way for cattle farming- McDonald’s produces most of its beef for America from the lands of this rainforestDaintree Rainforest:It is the World’s oldest rainforest estimated to be 180 million years old!The rainforest is named after a pioneering Australian geologist and photographer, Richard Daintree.More than 12,000?different types of?insects?call the Daintree Rainforest their home.Approximately 3,000 different species of plants can be found in this rainforest.The world’s largest tree frog, the white-lipped tree frog calls the Daintree tropical rainforest home.On an average, approximately 400,000 people visit here every year.This rainforest gained its official World Heritage listing on December 9, 1988.South East Asian Rainforests:-This made up of hundreds of smaller rainforests across several countriesIndian?rainforests are mainly found along the country's eastern coast. They contain about 200 species of trees, 500 orchids, and many herbs and medicinal plants. Animals include tigers, leopards, clouded leopards,?elephants, buffaloes, porcupines, mongooses, civets, gibbons, macaques and monkeys.Bangladesh?has got Sundarbans - the largest mangrove forests in the world. They contain about 400 Royal?Bengal?Tigers; and?crocodiles, deer, and many species of birds.Myanmar?rainforests contain large isolated bamboo stands, but also plants like hibiscus, palms, teak and orchids. There are also about 1000 species of birds; and 2000 tigers and 10,000 Asian?Elephants.Thailand's rainforests contain hardwoods, bamboos, and about 27,000 species of flowering plants. Its 300 mammal species include?elephants, leopards, macaques,?dusky?langurs, gibbons, Malayan tapirs, Malayan sun bears, gaurs, pangolins, deers, bantengs, and Asiatic Black Bears.Congo River basin RainforestThe Congo Rainforest is the second-largest area of rainforest in the world. This spectacular, gigantic forest covers the area drained by the?River Congo?(itself in the top ten amongst?World Rivers). The forest is home to as many as 1,000 species of trees – you might find as many as 500 different trees in a single hectare!Of course all of these trees, along with the rich variety of other plants here, provide a wonderful source of food for animals; including great apes like gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos.The Congo rainforest is under threat from local and international logging companies who ship the wood to Europe, the USA and Asia. An area of forest the size of Spain has already been sold off for logging. Wildlife experts are concerned about the loss of rainforest, as a result of this large-scale clearance and the forest’s slow re-growth, after the chainsaws and loggers vehicles have left.The Congo rainforest is home to many millions of people. Sixty million people live within its boundaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, and two thirds of them rely on the forest, for food and jobs. ................
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