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Of the twelve categories of mammals that inhabit the tropics of the
Western Hemisphere, eleven are present in Brazil, representing over
600 species. This includes several species of the cat family such as
the jaguar and smaller cats such as the puma, jaguarundi, and the
ocelot. Other mammals include: sloths, anteaters, tapirs, armadillos,
marine dolphins, capybaras (a large aquatic rodent, some weighting up
to 145 pounds [66 kilograms]), and 30 species of monkeys.
Brazil has a larger variety
of birds than any other country, with 1,600 species including many varieties of
parrot. There are at least 40 species of turtles, 120 lizards, 230 snakes, five
species of alligators, 331 species of amphibians, and 1,500 species of
freshwater fish. Naturalists have catalogued over 100,000 invertebrates in
Brazil of which more than 70,000 are insects.
The Amazon forest contains the
largest single reserve of biological organisms in the world. No one really knows
how many species there are in the Amazon forest, but scientists estimate that
there are between 800,000 and 5 million species living there, amounting to 15 to
30 percent of all the species in the entire world. As naturalists catalogue new
species of freshwater fish, their findings suggest that there may be as
many as 3,000 kinds of fish in the Amazon's rivers and lakes. Among the
specialized fish found in the area are: the pirarucu, said to be the largest
freshwater fish in the world with specimens measuring over 6.5 feet (2 meters)
in length and weighing 275 pounds (125 kilograms); the tambaqui, a member of the
fruit-eating characin family which possesses teeth that can crack seeds as hard
as those of the rubber tree and the jauari palm; and the piranha. The ferocity
of the meat-eating piranha has been exaggerated. Although it is true that some
species in rare circumstances have killed large animals and even people, their
behavior depends on the state of their habitat. In main river channels and in
larger lakes they appear to leave swimmers unmolested. Only when they lack
nourishment do they become aggressive.*
* Source: "Brazil in
Brief" , published by The Brazilian Embassy, Cultural Section. Information
provided by the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the OAS.
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Updated:
19 March 2008 |
