Have you ever been to Brazil? Or have you heard about the Amazon forest? Let’s discover five amazing Amazon River facts for kids.
After the River Nile in Egypt, the Amazon River takes second place for the largest river in the world. The Amazon River runs through the north of the Amazon Rainforest and it is made up of a network of many hundreds of waterways that stretch up to 6,840km.
The Amazon River has over 1,100 tributaries. 17 of these tributaries are over 1,500 kilometres long. That is over 2 and half times the size of the Grand Canyon! A tributary is a stream that flows into a main river.
The Amazon River is home to some of the most dangerous species in the world but this didn’t stop Martin Strel from swimming in its waters. In 2007, at the age of 53, Strel, a long-distance swimmer, swam the entire length of the Amazon river.
To complete his journey, Martin swam for up to ten hours a day for 66 days. This earned him the Guinness World Record for the longest open water swim. A record he still holds today.
One terrifying fish found in the Amazon River is the Pirarucu. The pirarucu is a meat-eater that can grow to nearly 3m long. It has teeth on the roof of its mouth and even on its tongue. This is just one of the deadly creatures calling the Amazon River its home.
There are over 3,000 known species in the river and more are always being discovered. Some species include electric eels, poison dart frogs, jaguars and dangerous snakes such as anacondas.
The first European who travelled the entire length of the Amazon River was Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana in 1542.
We can thank him for giving the Amazon River its name. As he was sailing down the river, he and his men came across a tribe of women who reminded him of the Amazons of Greek mythology, who were warrior women and therefore decided to give it that name.
Around 400-500 indigenous Amerindian tribes live in the Amazon Rainforest. It is thought that about fifty of these tribes have never been in contact with the outside world. They live among nature and have their very own language. They are completely isolated from the outside world.
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covering over 5.5 million square kilometres. The Amazon River is located in South America. It runs through seven countries.
These are Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. The tribes that live in the Amazon Rainforest use the Amazon River as their mode of transport as there are no bridges or roads.
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about Amazon river as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic this Amazon river is, you can move on to learn about other geography articles like: Australia, United States, Italy, Giant’s Causeway, Day of the Dead in Mexico, Festivals in Mexico, 8 Amazing Places to Visit in Egypt, Egypt, Festivals in India, Beaches, Oceans, Rocks, Rivers, Mountains, Trees and 1 Interesting Fact about Every Country in Asia.
You can also check our articles about environment matters like: Trees, Beaches, Soil Erosion, Food Waste, Energy, Wind Energy, Environmental Sustainability, Deforestation, Floods, Hydro Power, Electricity, Water, Electromagnetic Waves, Recycling, Recycling Crafts, Recycling Paper, Plastic recycling, Rainbows, Farming, Seas and Lakes, Miraculous Atmosphere, Earth and Water Cycle.
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