Project Amazonas

One in five of all bird species in the world can be found in the Amazon Basin. At our four field stations in the Peruvian Amazon, over 550 species of birds have been recorded!

Rainforests act as a planetary thermostat by regulating and moderating temperatures and weather patterns. By absorbing carbon and sequestering CO2, rainforest help slow global climate change.

During the rainy season the Amazon River overflows its banks and can extend into the forest for a width of 25 miles in some places. Where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon is over 200 miles wide!

Over one fifth of the world's fresh water is contained in the Amazon basin's rivers, streams, and tributaries.

A typical four square mile patch of rainforest may contain as many as 1,500 flowering plant species, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies.

The Amazon covers 2.5 million miles, about the size of the USA west of the Mississippi.

Although rainforests cover less than 2% of the Earth's surface area, they are home to 50% of the Earth's plant and animal species.

More than 2,000 tropical forest plants have been identified as having anti-cancer properties. Most of these have yet to be clinically tested, however.

Each minute the Amazon River discharges 3.4 million gallons of water into the Atlantic, 14 times the discharge of the Mississippi.