As the Amazon Rainforest (or Floresta Amazônica or Amazônia as it is known in Brazil) is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America and is roughly 5 _ million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) and enters nine different nations (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana), it contains a vast array of fauna.
If you look at an average patch of a typical four square mile of rainforest it will contain as many as 125 mammal species, 400 species of birds, 100 reptiles, 60 of amphibians, and 150 different species of butterflies. That's before we talk of the even greater number of bugs and insects that call the Amazon Rainforest home.
Rather than list every single type of animal that lives and operates in rainforest I shall highlight a few interesting ones.
The Vampire Bat is, as I'm sure you've guessed, a bloodsucker that feeds off other mammals. It is one of over 1000 different species of bat to be found here.
One of the longest and heaviest (weightier than a horse at times) snakes in the world can be found here. I am of course talking about the Anaconda.
Some interesting animals to be found in the Amazon include the Jaguar; found right at the top of the food chain, these deadly predators feast on large mammals like deer, monkeys (Golden Tamarins and Spider Monkeys to name two). The Tapir is an ancient and gigantic herbivore with a funny nose. As it's so big and slow it is the target for predators.
If you dip your toe in the Amazon River that meanders through the forest then you might get nipped by the infamous and ferocious piranha or you might get a nasty shock, literally, from an electric eel. Or worse encounter the Black Caiman, a man-eating alligator. On land other predators include the black caiman, cougar and poison dart frogs.
