James Watson shares his story of adventure in the Amazon rainforest with his friend Samuel Parker. He describes the immense size of the Amazon basin spanning multiple countries in South America and containing the largest rainforest in the world. Samuel notes the biodiversity of the Amazon, which is estimated to contain over half of the world's species, including 2 million insect species and thousands of plants and animals. Their discussion highlights both the ecological richness of the Amazon as well as threats to its environment and indigenous tribes from disease, development, and conflict.

1. Adventure in The Amazon Rainforest
(short story)

2.  James Watson had a passion for adventure. He
had just returned from the Amazon rainforest. He
is sharing his story of the Amazon Jungle with his
friend Samuel Parker. James lives in California,
USA.. His friend lives in his neighborhood.
James and Samuel were talking to one another.
 James Watson said: “I went to the Amazon
biome. It is a wonderful tropical rainforest. It is an
amazing basin in South America.”
 Samel Parker replied, “Tell me more about it.”

3.  James said, “This basin includes
7,000,000 km2 or 2,700,000 sq miles and out of
them 500,000 km2 or 2,100,000 sq mi, they have
been covered by rainforest. There were nine
nations.”
 Samuel said, “I have heard that forest has been
found within Brazil. There is 60% rainforest there.
You will be happy to know that Peru has 13%
rainforest. Columbia has 10% forest cover. There
are also small rainforest cover in Venezuela,
Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana and
Suriname.”

4.  James asked, “ What are the amazing facts about
Amazon?”
 Samuel replied, “I have heard that Amazon
shows half of our earth’s rainforests! It includes
approximately 390 billion individual trees and
there are 16,000 species!”

5.  James said, “You are right! The tribal societies
have made wars among themselves. The
animosity is going on between local tribes of
Jivaro. Jivaroan group consists of Shuar, who
adopted the profession of headhunting as their
trophies along with headshrinking.”
 Samuel said, “ It is true that there is conflict
among Yanomami tribes. The Yanomamo males
have given their lives due to warfare”.

6.  James said, “With the expansion of rubber
cultivation of Amazon, the immigrants have
brought diseases like malaria and typhus. It had
caused the death of around 40,000 native people
of Amazon”.
 Samuel said, “ I came to know from my
anthropology teachers that there are wet tropical
forests along tropical forests in Americas. There is
amazing biodiversity. It is said that one in ten
known species in our world are present in the
Amazon rainforest.”

7.  James replied, “You are right! The region has 2.5
million species of insects. There are tens of
thousands of the plants along with 2,000 birds
plus mammals.”
 Samuel said, “ I read from different books that
Amazon has 40,000 plant species along with
2,200 fishes. There are 1,294 birds along with
427 mammals.”

8.  James exclaimed, “ It is true that there are 428
amphibians along with 378 reptiles. There has
been scientific classification. It is interesting to
note that 1 in 5 of those bird species are present
in the rainforest of Amazon.”
 Samuel said, “ You are right! One out of five fish
species inhabit in the rivers of Amazon. There are
between 96,660 and 128,843 species of
invertebrate in Brazil.”

9.  James asked, “ Do you know that the biodiversity
of plant is highest on our Earth with 2001
research report? Do you know that one fourth
square kilometer of rainforest of Ecuador have
greater than 1,100 tree species?”
 Samuel said, “ Oh! That is really interesting! Tell
me more about it!”

10.  James said, ‘In 1999, it has been found that one
square kilometer of the rainforest of Amazon have
90,790 tonnes of the plants. The plant biomass
on an average has been roughly at 356 ± 47
tonnes per hectare.”
 Samuel said, “Wow! That is really interesting! I
have heard that the plant species is 438,000
species and they have social and economic
interest. They have been associated with that
region and more species are going to be
catalogued. So, there is a lot of research work
which needs to be done!”

11.  James said, “ I will go into another expedition in
Amazon to do research there! There are 16000
species of tree.”
 Samuel asked, “ Tell me about the animals of
Amazon. I would like to know about them. They
are interesting too!”

12.  James said, “ The rainforest consists of a number
of species which might be hazardous. There are
big predators like Jaguar, black caiman,
anaconda, cougar, etc.”
 Samuel asked, That’s great! What kind of animals
are there in river?

13.  James said, “There are electric eels, which can
give electric shock. It might kill. There were
piranha and one of my crew member was bitten
and injured.”
 Samuel said, “ I have heard about frogs and other
species. Tell me about them.”

14.  James said, “ There are different species of the
dart frogs, which are poisonous! They secret a
substance known as lipophilic alkaloid which is a
toxin secreted from flesh. I have come across
vampire bats in the jungle. I have heard that they
can spread the virus named rabies.”

15. Want More Short Stories?
 Pratanu Banerjee is a short story writer from
kolkata
 Call 91-8017517171
 Email pratanubanerjee9@gmail.com
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