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Living in Amaz⌠nia

Most of Amaz⌠nia is tropical rainforest. The tropics are a part of the world where the weather is always warm – even in winter. The average temperature in Amaz⌠nia is 27░C. This is the same as New Zealand in summer – but it feels a much hotter because there is a lot of moisture in the air, called humidity. People in the city of BelΘm joke that they are really "fish" because the air that they breathe contains more water than air!

Like most other tropical areas, it rains often in Amaz⌠nia (this is why the forests are called rainforests). However, there is a "rainy season" when it gets very wet, and the rivers rise dramatically – flooding into the nearby forest for many miles. In the flooded forests there are fish which eat the berries and plants, and dolphins who swim among the trees hunting for fish. Scientists tell us that many of the trees rely on fish to distribute their seeds (contained in the berries that they eat) in the same way that other trees rely on birds and other animals. Above the water, monkeys and other animals continue to live in the trees, but if they want to come down from the trees (which they must do sometimes to move to a new location) they must learn how to swim.

People who live along or near the river must adapt to its changing patterns. Many of the houses are built on tall stilts so that the floodwaters can pass beneath them, without the occupants getting wet. Other houses are built on giant rafts so that they rise with the floodwaters, then are lowered gently back to the ground as the floodwaters recede. Families must also build similar shelters for livestock such as cattle and pigs so that they can also escape the floodwaters. During this period, children have no playgrounds in which to play, so must remain on the platforms until the waters recede. The only way to visit other houses is by boat.

Amaz⌠nia is sparsely populated – it is a very big area, with only a very few people. Most of the people who live there are in the towns and villages, or in the few big cities such as Manaus and BelΘm. This means that there are few people living out in the countryside. Transport is usually by boat along the rivers because there are few roads. If there are roads they usually turn into deep mud during the wet season, and are impassable for several months of the year.

People living in the countryside need to be very careful because of the animals living around them. Some of them are dangerous to humans. Jaguars are now very rare because people have been hunting them for their skins, but there are poisonous snakes, scorpions, and many nasty insects (including mosquitoes which can be dangerous because they spread a disease called malaria). In the river there are piranha, crocodiles, and huge snakes called anaconda which curl themselves around their prey and squeeze so tightly that they can no longer breathe. These snakes usually only eat animals – but they have been known to eat people who have been unlucky enough to get in their way.