Amazon rain forest is known as “the lungs of the World.” The reason that it is so rich in species is found in the fact that this is the oldest ecosystem on planet Earth. Being the largest rain forest on the western hemisphere Amazonian rain forests have astounding biodiversity. Biodiversity is the number of different species living in an ecosystem.

The number of species is almost unobtainable, because vast areas of rain forest remain unexplored. Yet, with every expedition that goes in there, we find new species. Because of the tall trees ecosystem is divided in strata or layers. Each layer has its own species and they can spend their whole life without any interaction with the species from another layer. Until now, there have been cataloged 40.000 species of plants, 3000 fish, 1300 birds, 428 mammals, the same number of amphibians and 380 reptiles. More than 100.000 invertebrates have been described by scientists. One out of ten known animals live in the Amazonian rain forests and one out of all known birds live there also.

Taken from: Rainforest animals