The Amazon Rainforest
Know that the Amazon is Earth's greatest rainforest — spanning nine countries across South America, containing the world's largest river by water volume, and home to an estimated 10% of all species on Earth including 40,000 plant species, 1,300 bird species, and 3,000 types of fish
What a learner can do afterwards
- Locate the Amazon rainforest on a map of South America and name at least two countries it spans
- State that the Amazon contains the world's largest river by volume and is home to roughly 10% of all species on Earth
- Give at least two specific numbers showing the Amazon's biodiversity, such as 40,000 plant species or 1,300 bird species
The lesson
The Amazon is the biggest rainforest on Earth. It stretches across nine countries in South America, from Brazil all the way to smaller countries on the coast. It is so big and so full of life that scientists are still finding new plants and animals inside it.
Picture standing next to the Amazon River. More water flows through it than through any other river in the world, more than the next several biggest rivers combined. That is why people call it the largest river on Earth by volume.
You already know rainforests are hot and rainy all year. The Amazon is a rainforest too, just the biggest and most crowded one on the whole planet.
The Amazon is Earth's biggest rainforest, crossing nine countries and holding about 10 percent of all the world's species.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.