As part of our Amazon Rainforest study we visited the Amazon Flooded Forest exhibit at the Oregon Zoo. This is a section we don’t generally spend a lot of time exploring. So, this was a great excuse to look a little closer. I had Farm Kid1 answer a few questions such as Which animal is the most colorful? Why? Which animal is the hardest to find? Why? Can you find all the colors of the rainbow in this exhibit? Farm Kid2 had a piece of paper & a few crayons. He drew the animals.
I’m not sure about you, but I never realized how high the waters get in the Amazon. I guess I never thought about it. The seasons in the Amazon are marked by the rain. During the rainy season the Amazon basin will flood, the waters getting extremely high. Eventually the water will recede showing off the forest floor. Some how the plants & animals have figured out how to adapt to these changes every year.
RED-HANDED TAMARIN
Emerald tree boa in the background. It appears as though these two are in the same area, but really they are separated by glass.
EMERALD TREE BOA
GREEN ANACONDA
PACU
Also in the exhibit are big fish called pacu. We learned that pacu in the wild eat the fruit from trees when the water is high, then poop out the seeds. When the water level recedes the seeds grow into new trees. These fish are an important part of the system.
DWARF CAIMAN
Not exactly the prettiest set of teeth.
ARRAU TURTLE
They are an endangered species.
We spent a good 45 minutes examining this small, but educational, exhibit. We all left with a better understanding of the rainforest.
