The Amazon’s size is well known. The largest river (by discharge) in the world, it continuously pumps out roughly one-fifth of the world’s river flow. It’s so big the second largest river in the world – the Rio Negro – is a tributary of the Amazon itself.
Sure, the river is large… but what really stands out is the Amazon Basin’s wildlife. In fact, the Amazon Basin houses over one-third of the world’s species, including one-fifth of all bird species and over 2.5 million different insect species. In a single square kilometer, you can expect to find over 75,000 species of tree and over 150,000 species of plants.
In short: it’s the most bio-diverse place on Earth.
With such diversity over vast stretches of land (roughly 40% of South America lies in the Amazon Basin), you can expect to see all types of animals you’d never find elsewhere. Jaguars, scarlet macaws and howler monkeys all call the Amazon home. But what really captures your attention is…