Kids Zone

Purple Martin
Progne subis

The Purple Martin is a beautiful migratory songbird, strong and fast in flight, and the largest North American swallow. The Purple Martin spends its winters in the Amazon River Basin and its summers in North America. While traveling north in the spring the Purple Martins establish new colonies and also return to old housing to breed, raise their young and eventually migrate back to South America for the winter season. The cycle repeats yearly.

Purple Martins are the only North American Species of songbird entirely dependent upon human-supplied nesting cavities for reproduction. People all over North America have committed their springs and summers to providing nesting grounds in their backyards for their visiting purple martin friends. In fact, whether a Purple Martin flock nests in an area is largely determined by the availability of Martin houses. Martins will nest in hanging gourds, one-room boxes on top of poles, or in multi-room apartment boxes ranging in size from 10 to 200 rooms.

Not only are they talented insect eaters, they are brilliant flyers. As the largest member of the swallow family, their large wings give them most of their 8 inch size. Purple Martins are known for their beautiful warbling songs. They have many varieties of tones and sounds, and males even make a unique clicking sound at the end of their song. Purple Martins are talented insect eaters. They catch all of their insect prey while in flight. Additionally, it gets all its water that way too. It skims the surface of a pond and scoops up the water with its lower bill. Common items in their diet include: flies, horseflies, wasps, bees, beetles, mayflies, stinkbugs, plant hoppers, grasshoppers, cicadas, and moths.

Since Martins feed solely on flying insects, they are extremely vulnerable to weather conditions that affect insect availability. Prolonged bad weather, such as rain, snow, cool temperatures, and/or heavy winds, all reduce or eliminate insect flight. If poor weather persists for more than 2 or 3 days, martins begin to die of starvation. Additionally, they are preyed upon my owls, eagles, and crows.

Purple Martins are monogamous, meaning that they only mate with one other bird. The male and female cooperate equally in building the nest out of mud, grass and twigs. The female lays two to seven pure-white eggs at a rate of one egg per day. The female incubates the clutch for approximately fifteen days, then the young hatch. The parents both feed the young continuously for a period of 26-32 days until the young fledge. The young continue to be dependent on their parents for food and training for an additional one to two weeks after fledging.

Yuca
Manihot esculenta

Yuca, or Cassava, is indigenous to the rainforest, but is now grown all over the tropics. It is one of the main crops for farmers and a primary source of carbohydrates for the people. Yuca is found everywhere among the Amazon rainforest and is a daily food source for the people of the lowland tropics.

The roots, which resemble sweet potatoes and are eaten in much the same way, yield yuca starch. The root can be boiled, baked, or roasted. yuca roots are also used for laundry starch, and are the source of tapioca, a preparation of cassava-root starch used as a food, in bread or as a thickening agent in liquid foods, notably puddings but also soups and juicy pies.

In processing tapioca, heat ruptures the yucca starch grains, converting them to small, irregular masses that are further baked into flake tapioca. A pellet form, known as pearl tapioca, is made by forcing the moist starch through sieves.

The root is also used to make alcoholic beverages by chewing the root and spitting it into a large pot where the saliva begins the fermentation process.

Medicinally, the juice from the root is squeezed out and used to treat scabies, skin problems, diarrhea, fever, chills, sore muscles.The yuca is native to Amazonia and has long been cultivated there by the indigenous populations.

Capuchin Monkey
Cebus albifrons

Both the white fronted capuchin monkey and the brown capuchin monkey live in the rainforest of Peru. The only significant difference between the two are the color of their bodies. While the white fronted capuchin has a dark cap, light colored body and white chest, the brown capuchin is what its name says: all brown with darker legs and feet.

The capuchins occur in large and noisy troops, swinging from tree to tree, one after another. A troop, 2 to 30 strong, consists of a single adult male plus females and their young, traveling an average of over 1 mile per day, aggressively defending turf when they meet other troops. They are highly arboreal, meaning they live mostly in the trees of the upper canopy. Still, however, they make themselves known all over the forest, foraging for food from the tops of the trees to the lower tree trunks and sometimes even to the ground.

Their diet consists not just of fruit and insects, but also bird eggs, young birds, baby squirrels, and small lizards. They have even been known to attack animals larger than themselves, like the six foot long iguana. On average capuchins consume 20% meat, 65% fruit, and 15% green plant. Sounds like a pretty balanced diet to me!

Noisy Night Monkey
Aotus vociferans

How did the noisy night monkey get its name? Probably from the low, loud, distinct, owl-like hoots it makes at night. Although its call is easy to identify, when seen at night these noisy night monkeys can often be mistaken for an opossum or kinkajou when their eyes reflect light. The distinguishing characteristic, however, is that the noisy night monkey has a striking black and white facial pattern, unlike the opossum or kinkajou.

This particular monkey is about one foot long, and 2 to 3 lbs. It has dark ears, and a long, two colored black tipped prehensile tail. It is thought that there are between 5 and 7 species of night monkeys, and one of the species found in the upper Amazon basin is the noisy night monkey.

The noisy night monkey is arboreal, meaning that it lives in the trees, and nocturnal, meaning that it is awake at night. These two adaptations help the noisy night monkey steer clear of predators in the rainforest. Noisy night monkeys can range from the lowlands all the way up to cloud forests, regularly reaching elevations of up to 11,000 feet. Daytime is typically spent in tree holes, although sometimes the monkeys will do foraging in the early hours of daylight.

Night monkeys are mainly frugivorous, meaning that they only eat fruit, although they also eat flowers, insects, leaves and nectar. The noisy night monkey generally lives in groups of two to five individuals, usually a couple and their offspring. The noisy night monkey is uniquely monogamous, meaning males and females only have one mating partner in their lifetime. The females produce a single young, born with its eyes open. Most mate in the dry season and give birth in the rainy season. Males and females are monomorphic, or similar in body size, and males take on much of the parental care, often carrying the infant from the day of birth. The baby stays on the back of the mother or father for six months. After that, the baby goes out on its own.

Like other small monkeys, noisy night monkeys are preyed upon by birds of prey, arboreal cats, boa constrictors, and people. They can also die from yellow fever and parasite infections.

Vanilla

Think of all of the foods you eat that have vanilla in them. What about all of the perfumes and air fresheners that are scented with vanilla? Did you know that vanilla is actually a fleshy climbing vine from the orchid family, the largest family of flowering plants in the world? It can get up to 100 feet long. The vanilla fruit is the only edible fruit of the entire orchid family.

There are about 150 varieties of vanilla in the world, although there are only two types that are actually used in the food and perfumes that you use at home. The flowers that produce the vanilla fruit are large, have a yellow greenish color, and occur in groups of twenty or more. They only last one day before they die.

The Totonaca people of the Gulf Coast of Mexico were probably the first people to cultivate vanilla. They taught many other indigenous people how to grow vanilla during MesoAmerican times, and they continue to cultivate the fruit that they consider was given to them by the gods. In Peru, vanilla was first used as a flavoring by the Amerindians who cultivated it long before the Spanish explorers arrived.

Vanilla is the world's most labor-intensive agricultural crop, which is why it's so expensive at the grocery store. It will take up to three years after the vines are planted before the first flowers appear. The fruits, which resemble big green beans, must remain on the vine for nine months in order to completely develop their signature aroma. However, when the beans are harvested, they have neither flavor nor fragrance. They develop these distinctive properties during the preparation. When the beans are harvested, they are treated with hot water or heat and are then placed in the sun every day for weeks to months until they have shrunk to 20% of their original size. After this process is complete, the beans are sorted for size and quality. Then they will rest for a month or two to finish developing their full flavor and fragrance. By the time they are shipped around the world, their aroma is quite remarkable!

The United States is the world's largest consumer of vanilla, followed by Europe. About 1400 tons of dried vanilla is produced worldwide each year. Our worldwide interest in natural vanilla has grown considerably in the past several years, however, and the current annual demand is for 2200 tons of vanilla. Vanilla is not only used as a flavor in foods and beverages, but also in perfumes. It's also used in many industrial applications such as a flavoring for medicines and as a fragrance to conceal the strong smell of rubber tires, paint, and cleaning products. Because vanilla is so much in demand, and because it's so expensive, synthetics are often used instead of natural vanilla. In fact, 97% of vanilla used as a flavor and fragrance is synthetic.

Chocolate Tree/Cacao
Theobroma cacao

Have you ever wondered where chocolate from? Did you know that the chocolate in the candy bars that you buy at the grocery store actually come from a tree in the middle of the rainforest?

Chocolate comes from a tree called the Cocoa tree, or in Spanish, Cacao. The cocoa tree or chocolate tree, is found in the Upper Amazon Basin where it can reach over fifty feet high. The fruit is thick and oval shaped, usually yellow or red, and can sometimes grow as big a as a football. The inside of the fruit is packed full of between twenty and sixty seeds. The seeds are surrounded by a sweet pulp that you can eat for a tasty treat. Children in the rainforest love to suck on the seeds from the Cacao tree as you might suck on candy where you live.

The pulp around the seed is actually there to attract animals that will eat the seed and then serve as seed dispensers after the seed goes through their digestive track. After eating the sweet seeds, the animals continue on their way and actually plant seeds on accident when they go to the bathroom.

Cacao is an important crop in the Amazon region because it is sold to countries all over the world so that children just like you can eat all forms of chocolate: liquid in your hot cocoa, and solid in your candy bar.

Cacao has been used for hundreds of years in Peruvian Indian groups such as the Maya, Aztec, and Zapotecs. To use the seeds, they remove them from the pod, roast them, shell them, and grind them to produce chocolate powder. That powder is then used in all sorts of sweet desserts and drinks. The leaves of the cacao tree are used by indigenous tribes as a heart tonic and diuretic. Brews from the bark and toasted seeds are used to treat asthma. Additionally, cocoa butter, the oil from the seed, is used in lotion, oils, and as laxatives. The latin name, theobroma cacao, translates to "food of the gods."

Tayra
Eira barbara

The tayra is a weasel about the size of a medium sized dog, with a long, bushy tail and long neck. Its head is quite large in relation to its body and its ears are small and round. The tayra has large canine teeth that it uses to eat a variety of small animals. It has large hind feet with long claws. The color of its fur varies with geographic range, but in general the tayra has a dark brown body with short, dense fur, and a slightly paler head. On average the tayra weighs about ten pounds.

Tayras are found in tropical areas and evergreen forests. The elevation of the tayras habitat ranges from the lowlands to about 8000 feet. Because the tayra is both terrestrial and arboreal, it has been found living in hollow trees, burrows built by other animals, and occasionally in tall grass.

Tayras are omnivores, meaning that they eat both meat and plant food. They are large tree climbers that will often descend to search the ground for a variety of foods- fruit, insects, bird eggs, lizards, guinea pigs, squirrels, agoutis, chicken, rabbits, rats, and insects. They can be quite bold at times and are among the most frequently sighted of the weasel family, especially when attracted to fruits. Because of their love of eating small rodents, people often keep tayras as pets to keep the rodents out of their gardens.

The tayra usually travels alone or in pairs. Sometimes, however, they are seen in small groups of 3-4 individuals. It is active both day and night, and rarely rests. The tayra is both terrestrial and arboreal. It may leap for considerable distances, run up rocky cliffs, and bound from branch to branch in the trees. It climbs gracefully up and down trees, and hides in hollows in branches or in the underground burrows of other animals which it has killed. When alarmed, the tayra gives a short, barking call and seeks protection in the nearest tree. Although usually silent, the tayra has been known to give yowls, snarls, or clicks when in groups.

Giant Armadillo
Priodontes Maximus

Giant armadillos are found in South America, east of the Andes, from northwestern Venezuela to northeastern Argentina. They live in burrows near water in grassland, brushland, woodland and forest habitats. The giant armadillo was once widespread in the tropical forests, but now, because of over-hunting and the expansion of human settlement, and the corresponding loss of their natural habitat, they are now endangered.

The largest of the armadillos, the giant armadillo can reach up to 130 lbs, but most range from 40 to 70 lbs. The head and body of giant armadillos are usually between two and four feet long, and their tails reach about 2 feet. The necks and backs of giant armadillos are covered in flexible "armor" consisting of 14 to 17 moveable bands of horn and bone. Their heads are protected by a similar oval shield. Small, closely set plates of armor cover their tales.

Giant armadillos are dark brown except for their heads, tails and the lower edges of their shells, which are nearly white. Giant armadillos have sparse hairs scattered between their plates. Their forefeet have large powerful claws. They are very agile, and sometimes balance themselves on their hind legs and tails, with their forefeet off the ground.

The diet of giant armadillos consists of termites, ants, insects, spiders, worms, larvae, snakes and carrion. If a giant armadillo happens to stumble upon a termite mound, it wouldn't be uncommon for it to devour the entire mound.

Giant armadillos are nocturnal creatures, meaning they are active at night and sleep during the day. They are powerful and quick diggers. Giant armadillos dig the burrows they travel through and live in. They also dig to find food and to escape predators.

After a gestation period of four months, females give birth to one or two young. Newborns have leathery skin and weigh up to four pounds at birth. They can live twelve to fifteen years.

Giant Anteater
Myrmecophaga tridactyla

The Giant Anteater is indeed giant; it can grow to lengths of up to 6 ½ feet! It's body is covered in thick, straw-like hairs. As the name suggests, anteaters eat ants and termites in vast quantities, sometimes up to 30,000 insects in a single day. The anteater will rip open a termite hill with its clawed hand and work its tube-like snout into the opening, sticking its long, worm-shaped tongue down into the heart of the colony and trapping the insects on its tongue's sticky coating.

The mouth of anteaters is very small, barely big enough to pass a pencil, but the tongue is very long and can protrude out of its mouth up to two feet. The tongue is heavily coated with thick, sticky saliva when it is in use. It has backward-pointing hairs that can be stiffened into spines. The tongue is attached to the sternum and can be flicked in and out at the rate of 150 or more times a minute. Insects are mashed against the hard pallet in their mouth.

The arms are extremely powerful and animals, including humans, caught in their grip, succumb. The claws, used to rip open concrete-hard termite and ant mounds, can cause tremendous damage. Anteaters seldom spend more than a couple of minutes feeding at any one nest. Only a few thousand insects are removed at one feeding and then the nest is abandoned to repairs. The anteaters circulate around their territories, feeding lightly here and there, never destroying any one nest and, therefore, never eliminating any of their food base. Termites and ants recover losses very rapidly.

Amazonian Manatee
Trichechus Inunguis

The Amazonian Manatee is the only freshwater manatee. It averages nine feet and weighs 600 to 1000 pounds. Some people say it looks like a huge walrus without tusks. Manatees are completely hairless except for the bristle on its snout. The manatee has tiny eyes, hind feet and flippers for their fore-legs. It is shy and nocturnal and extremely difficult to see as it feeds on aquatic vegetation like hyacinths and floating grass. It's perfectly adapted to the flood-and-drought cycle of the flooded forest. During the dry season, it stays in deep freshwater lakes. As water levels rise with the flood, it moves out to find floating weeds, roots and grasses. It is the only completely aquatic herbivorous mammal in the world and can eat more than 100 lbs of plants a day, building up fat. It can then go without eating for the 6 months when the floods recede. One feature which may help it do this is its ability to vary its body temperature with its surroundings, more like a reptile than a mammal. The Amazon Manatee is a giant food processor. Up to 40% of the food it eats is excreted in smaller easy-to-eat particles for other smaller creatures in the water. Although they are difficult to see, you may often see its enormous production of dung floating in the river.

The manatee generally lives alone except during courtship, which is usually flood season. It communicates with others by making noises underwater. The Amazon Manatee reproduces slowly. The gestation period takes about 13 months and females produce one young only once every 1-3 years. The calf is dependent on mom and stays close beside her for 2 years. The Amazon Manatee females and her young form small groups of 5-10; the male is usually solitary or forms small bachelor herds.

Hundreds of thousands of gentle, harmless Amazon Manatees have been slaughtered for their meat and oil since the early 17th century. In the 1930's to 1940's, they were killed by the thousands for their hide which was made into leather for heavy duty use like shoe soles and belts for heavy equipment. Locals have long used manatee oil for cooking and traditional cures and their meat is highly valued especially because it keeps well without refrigeration.

Pink River Dolphin
Inia Geoffrensis

The amazon river dolphins or botos are born grey and become pinker with age. This is because, as the dolphin grows older, its skin becomes more translucent allowing the blood to show through. When excited, they will flush to a bright pink temporarily, like your face might when you get embarrassed or excited. They have a long powerful beak, small eyes and are slow swimmers. They also have small hairs on their snout which may help them find foot from the muddy river bottom. They can reach up to ten feet long and two hundred pounds. They are unique among dolphins for having molar-like teeth and can chew their prey. They are quite solitary animals, and are found in the main rivers of the Amazon and Orinoco river systems of tropical South America.

Pink River Dolphins inhabit muddy stagnant water, and during flooding will move onto the flooded forests leaving them at risk of stranding. They are however extremely flexible so they can weave through the obstacles of trees as they search for their prey. They are a completely freshwater species, never venturing into salt water. Because Amazon River dolphins do not have any known natural predators -- other than humans -- they do not need to live in large protective groups called pods. Pink dolphins hunt alone during the high water season when their prey disperse into the floodplains. At other times, they are found in small family groups of 5-8 animals which seem to be led by a dominant adult male. At river confluences, as many as 35 pink dolphins work together to catch their prey. They feed on crustaceans, crabs, catfish, and small fresh water fish. A unique characteristic of the pink river dolphin is the unfused vertebrae in its neck, which allows for the 180-degree head turn, giving them greater flexibility in floodplain forests, grassland, tributaries and shallow waters. Another added hunting benefit is their excellent eyesight which they use to locate prey in clear water. In murky water they emit a series of clicking noises, 30 to 80 per second, which they then use as sonar by listening for them to bounce off of potential prey. They give screeching alarm calls to warn other dolphins of predators.

Of the five freshwater species of dolphins in the world, the pink Amazon River dolphin also known as botos, are considered to be the most intelligent. These friendly, sensitive, mammals have a brain capacity 40% larger than that of humans. They have lived in harmony with the people of the Amazon and its tributaries for centuries, but now face extinction in some areas. Twenty years ago the pink river dolphin was considered to be one of the least threatened species of dolphins, but now they have become one of the most endangered species due to human interference. The accelerated and commercialized destruction of the Amazon Rainforest has contributed to threatened survival of the pink river dolphin. The Amazon River Dolphin is currently threatened by habitat destruction, hydroelectric dam projects, mercury poisoning from gold prospecting, accidental entangling in fishing nets, pollution, and boat traffic.

Giant Otter
Pteronura Brasiliensis

The Giant River Otter lives in the Peruvian tropical rainforest of South America. Giant River Otters live in lakes and slow-moving rivers in forested areas. The Giant Otter population once was widespread from Venezuela to northern Argentina. Today only isolated pockets of otters, estimated 2,000 to 5,000, are left due to fur hunting and habitat destruction.

Giant Otters are carnivorous mammals. They are related to weasels, badgers, porcupines, polecats, and minks. Out of all of the members of their family, Otters are the species best adapted to aquatic life. Generally, they live in families of five to eight. They spend most of their time in the water and find most of their food there. Giant Otters hunt during the day and sleep at night. Their diet consists almost exclusively of fish, and is much less diverse then other otters.

The outer fur is thick, dark, and waterproof. The inner coat includes an insulating layer of air, and stays dry even under water. The giant otter can grow up to 6.5 feet long and 75 lbs. Adapted with webbed feet, a strong, flattened tail, and a sleek form for moving in water, they look funny as they waddle on land. An amazing thing about their whiskers, which are called "vibrissae", is that they can use them to detect changes in current and water pressure. This helps when they are searching for fish and other prey because they can detect the prey's movement. These Giant Otters can also dive for several minutes at a time. You might hear a giant otter before you see him, as he playfully lets out loud whistles, screams, and hums.

Another special feature of the Giant Otter is their highly developed social behavior. They live within groups of up to 10 individuals, who hunt, sleep, and play together. The groups are composed of a parent couple with their young of several years. A group occupies a confined territory, and the territories of different groups do not overlap. The Spanish name is "Lobo Del Rio" or "river wolf" having to do with their social behavior. There is also no other otter species in which males and females live together.

After a pregnancy of 65-72 days in the dry season between May and September, otter females give birth to one to four cubs. Usually, only the dominant female of a group reproduces. All group members, however, help with raising the young. During the first two months of their lives, the cubs stay inside the den. Otter groups are noticeably more alert and careful than usual when caring for their young. Today we also know that females under stress stop producing milk so that the young starve to death within a couple of days if the mother is constantly disturbed.

By the age of two or three years the Giant Otters typically go on and occupy their own stable home range where they stay year round. A Giant Otter home range includes at least one lake, usually several smaller creeks, and part of a river. The oldest documented life span was 8 years for free-ranging Giant Otters and 14 years for ones in captivity.

Capybara
Hydrochoerus Hydrochaeris

The capybara is the world's largest rodent. You probably wouldn't find one of these scouring your kitchen late at night. The capybara can grow up to four feet long and weigh up to 145 pounds. Its body is covered in short, pale, and rather coarse hair. Its ears and tail are small and the feet are slightly webbed. There is a large bump in the middle of the top of the nose, which appears to be a scent gland of some kind. The capybara is most often confused with a pig; it's short hair and squirrel like head makes it an interesting looking animal indeed! It even gives off a series of bizarre moans, squeaks, and grunts, similar to a pig.

The capybara is active during the day and almost always along Amazonian lowland lakes and rivers, into which it dives to escape danger. Although they are a bit clumsy on land, capybaras are excellent swimmers. They are more likely to be seen in the dry season when there are more river banks on which to roam. They have a strong social system that depends on how much water there is to spread out into. They often can be found in groups of up to 20. At the slightest hint of danger they leap into the water and disappear under the surface to emerge far river beaches and in the mud along lake shores. However, because they are mammals, they can't stay underwater forever. Instead, they will float in the water with their noses sticking out, getting just enough oxygen to breathe but remaining quite hidden. The capybara feeds on aquatic vegetables and also fruits. They are preyed up on by large mammals and reptiles, including large snakes, pumas, ocelots, caimans, eagles, and jaguars.

Capybaras are polygamous, which means that they mate with more than one partner during their lifetime. They mate in the water just before the rainy season. The females have litters of up to 8 young, usually about 4, and the gestation period (the time the baby develops in the mother's womb) is about 5 months. When the babies are born, the newborns follow their mothers around and eat plants almost immediately, but they still drink the mother's milk as well. The entire group of females takes care of the newborn babies. The capybara is considered some of the most superior of wild meats because it is tasty, tender, and lacks odor. It can frequently be purchased in Peru and is a quite expensive delicacy. Because of this, capybaras are widely raised in captivity to meet the demand for their market. After all, they are considered to be the holiday meal for Easter dinner. If they are not killed for their meat, they live on average about ten years.