the.com/amazon rainforest
Earth's lungs, if lungs were also on fire and owned by thirty governments.
means The vast tropical rainforest covering much of the Amazon River basin in South America, home to an enormous share of the planet's plant and animal species.
from Named for the Amazon River, which Spanish explorers reportedly christened after encountering fierce women warriors along its banks, who reminded them of the Amazons of Greek legend — mythical female fighters said to live without men. Whether those warriors were real, misidentified, or exaggerated by homesick conquistadors is still debated, but the name stuck to the river, and the river lent its name to the forest.
- size
- roughly the size of the contiguous United States, minus Texas
- biodiversity
- one in ten known species lives here
- river power
- releases more water than the next seven largest rivers combined
- self-watering
- generates up to half its own rainfall through transpiration