15 PICTURES THAT PROVE THE AMAZON IS COMPLETELY INSANE

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When someone says “Amazon”, what is the first thing that pops in your head? Is it the rainforest or that misunderstanding you had with Amazon Prime? But seriously now, we are here to talk about the beauties and general weirdness in the Amazon rainforest. You probably know that deforestation of Amazon has been very detrimental to the climate on Earth, but you may not know that the region of this wild rainforest belongs to nine nations. Also, the Amazon represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests and it is estimated that there are 390 billion individual trees in Amazon, divided into 16,000 species! Wow! Wildlife must be really wild there!

Source: www.nacnobi.do.am

1. These are just some of the lushest parts of Amazon,where canopy is really, really thick. We said really twice because there are some places in Amazon where canopy can succeed in blocking out 99% of sunlight. That means that there are some places in the mighty rainforest that are very dark and where all kinds of animals and plants live. The thick canopy actually results in absorbing the sunlight, and therefore- in regulating the Earth’s temperature.

Source: www.strangeanimals.info

2. Behold, it’s the Jesus Lizard! You are guessing it right, he got this name because he can walk (or run, or jump, or make a perfect cartwheel maybe) just like Jesus did. If you don’t believe us, just look at the photo above! This cute little lizard is one of the rare reptiles who can literally walk on water. Eventually, even Jesus Lizards have to swim, but you have to admit that walking on water is one of those cool things you would like to do!

Source: www.haloringnursov.blogspot.com

3. And if you think that Amazon is only insane from the ground, you should see the skies up above this magnificent rainforest! They say that the northern hemisphere is very special because of its northern lights, but did you know that Amazon has a similar phenomenon? Sun Halos look like circular rainbows which form around the sun. Sun Halo is a result of sunlight mixing with the ice crystals floating around extremely high up in the atmosphere.

Source: www.pinterest.com

4. Have you ever seen a tree like this? The Amazon is truly full of strange but still, very beautiful plants and animals. The Dynamite Tree is one of them. The Dynamite tree is also known as a sandbox tree and one of the most insane things about it is that once it has to spread its seeds, it bears fruits; however, instead of dropping the seeds to the ground, the fruit explodes, which eventually sends seeds as far away as 150 feet. Well, that’s impressive.

Source: www.guff.com

5. Wow. This little fellow is called Glass Frog, and we have to admit, this is one of the weirdest and cutest things we have ever seen. The thing is, there are literally hundreds of frog types in the Amazon. Some of them are colorful (and they are also very often deadly poisonous), some are icky and Glass Frogs has completely translucent skin! Crazy, right? Can you imagine your body with translucent skin? That would not be so cute, not at all!

Source: www.en.wikipedia.org

6. We already mentioned that the Amazon rainforest is very big. It is actually quite enormous and even when you just take a look at the map, you can only conclude that the Amazon is insanely large. But how large is it exactly? The Amazon rainforest covers over 2.12 million square miles! In other words, it is large enough to cover more than half the territory of the US, including Alaska, Hawaii and other US protectorates! So yeah, it’s pretty big.

Source: www.mafiawars.wikia.com

7. Nature usually has its own, special ways of telling us to stay away from some species. Very often, this method includes bright colors. So in case you tought it would be a good idea to play with this blue frog, you should think again. Poison Dart Frogs sure look interesting, but did you know that just one touch can cause instant paralysis that almost certainly leads to death? Not so cute anymore, right? Let’s say they are only cute when you see a photo of them.

Source: www.cultureshock-survival.blogspot.com

8. In case you thought that Poisonous Dart Frogs are the worst, you should get mentally prepared for the candiru fish. The candiru fish is most likely one of the tiniest and simultaneously, most insane and evil little creatures ever. The are very small but they are also vicious parasites, so there’s a recipe for a horror story. The worst part is that they love human orifices, and when we say orifices we mean the human urethra. Yes, it is that gross.

Source: www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov

9. That’s right, this is the Sahara. So why are we showing this map to you? Because annually, about 40 million tons of dust are transported from the Sahara to the Amazon basin. This Saharan dust is crucial for the Amazon because it is the main mineral source that fertilizes the Amazon basin. The so called Bodélé depression is located northeast of Lake Chad, and it emits dust on 40% of the winter days, which is in average more than 0.7 million tons of dust per day. That’s a lot of dust!

Source: www.wunderground.com

10. Humans often think that they are A) the most complicated species on Earth and B) that they already know everything about the world that surrounds them. These are of course just some of the most popular misconceptions humans have about themselves and about the nature. Did you know that over 99% of the Amazon’s plants are still not fully analyzed or even studied? We guess that we don’t know so much about the world around us after all.

Source: www.gizmodo.com

11. In case you didn’t know, there are some people who don’t know anything about the Kardashians. Do you feel jealous? These uncontacted tribes are small and they can usually be found south of the river Amazon. The most fascinating thing about them is that somehow, these people stayed here for centuries, without any contact with the outside world! It’s weird that they and the rest of the world share the same plane, without even knowing.

Source: www.aqua.org

12. We suppose that you don’t even have to know what this is, and judging by the this creature’s looks, it is not good. You were right! This ugly creature is called Electric Eel.Of course, it attacks other creatures by using its zapping powers and it uses the electricity to light up the water so it can see where it is going. Electric Eels are therefore one of the most insane creatures in the Amazon, and we don’t want to see them ever again.

Source: www.crisisboom.com

13. We know that this little drawing may seem funny, but it actually represents one of the most insane facts about the Amazon! We all know about the Amazon River. However, not many people know that there is another river, wait for it, beneath the Amazon River! That’s right, the Rio Hamza cannot be found on the maps because it is completely underground, and it is much wider than the Amazon. Also, The Rio Hamza carries over forty times the amount of water than the Thames.

Source: www.livescience.com

14. When you take a look at this photo of anaconda, do you also think: “What a painful death it must be?” We’re asking because we definitely think of that. But seriously, in the Amazon rainforest, there are many anacondas, especially near and in the waters. As you already know, size doesn’t matter for anacondas; they only care about eating and their powerful muscles do the rest of the job. It must be really dark inside of the anaconda’s tummy.

Source: www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us

15. OMG, cuteness overload! The only thing that can possibly be cuter than a pink dolphin is a pink unicorn, so until we see one of those in the Amazon, pink dolphins will definitely be the kings of the insane facts about the Amazon. This fresh-water type of dolphin lives in the Amazon River and it can be found in the deeper waters of this rainforest river. Besides the color, they have humps on their backs instead of fins, which is also very cute!