Fiction story

Block 3

BY: JULIA

B.AMAZON RAINFOREST

Amazon Rainforest Rough DraftOne summer day I decided that it would be a good idea to go to the Amazon Rainforest. I was so bored and I really needed something to do. So I called up my friends Nina Avery and Ashlyn and asked them if they wanted to go with me, they did, the next step was convincing my mom.

We walked up to my mom and I said “the rainforest is beautiful; its average temperature is 77 degrees Fahrenheit!” Ashlyn piped in and said, “Also, it has a tropical climate zone and has an average rainfall of 9 feet annually! Its coordinates are latitude -o and 15 N and longitude 75 W 45 W” Next Avery said “The climate is warm and humid, it’s amazing!! It’s in South America, it is in the north west and south west hemisphere, and it is in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.”Then the final question came from Nina “Can we go??”

My mom wasn’t quite convinced, she asked, “What kinds of people live there? I answered “well many tribes live there, one of them is the Yanonami tribe, it is indigenous to the Amazon rainforest.” “Tell me about them, how they live, their culture, everything you know” my mom commanded. Nina being the brains of the group replied “Trade is an important aspect of Yanonami life and helps to reduce the chances of warfare between villages. Often one village will have manufactured goods that are badly needed by another village.The village that depends on these goods will give the other village wives in return for the goods.Most women have prearranged marriages and marry at a young age; those are some basic facts about how they live.”

Ashlyn added “Here’s all you need to know about how their village is set up, they live in hundreds of small villages, grouped by families in one large communal dwelling called a Shabono (sometimes called a yano); this is a disc-shaped structure with an open-air central plaza. The villages, which contain between 40 and 300 individuals, are scattered thinly throughout the Amazon Forest. The distance between villages may vary from a few hours walk to a ten day walk “

My little brother being the nosey little boy he is, had listened to our whole conversation and quickly told us the little that HE knew about the Yanonami tribe, “They fish and grow wild tobacco (for spiritual beliefs) they also use the trees to make giant canoes, some of the people in this tribe may be considered nomads.” Even though he’s only seven, he’s smarter than he looks.

Then Avery, finishing up our summary about the Yanonami, said “The Yanonami people's traditions are shaped by the belief that the natural and spiritual world are a unified force; nature creates everything, and is sacred. Some of the things they eat are snakes, wild pigs,

monkeys, deer, jaguars, insects, larvae, fish, crabs, wild honey, sweet potatoes and palm fruits.” My mom then said “That’s pretty cool, does anyone else live there?

I then began to tell her about this other tribe that lives in the Amazon Rainforest “Another tribe that lives in the Amazon is the Ticuna tribe, I will tell you everything I know about them. They live along the Amazon River or creeks and they fish with rods. They live in Communal houses that are large with an oval floor plan, and a central area for ceremonies. Later rectangular houses were used that had two-sided roofs and no walls, these houses had only one family in them. Their homes are usually placed in prone to flooding areas. Houses have two well defined spaces; living quarters and kitchen. Houses are set up on pillars to avoid flood. They make baskets, masks, wood and stone sculptures. They also make bark cloth which is a natural fiber and a paper-like fabric which they paint. They get all these things from the rainforest. One fruit that they eat a lot is the sugar cone. This has an outer marshmallow and inside a hard fruit like an apple. They also eat a lot of fish.”

After we told her this, she agreed to let us go, she just told us one thing before we left, “make sure to refuel the flying rhinoceros before you leave, you wouldn’t want to run out of fuel on your ride to the rainforest” So I put some fuel in the Rhino, then we all hopped on and rode to the rainforest. When we arrived, in order to get to the forest floor we had to go through some layers first. The first and highest one is called the Emergent layer. In this layer there were trees as tall as 200 feet. Some of the trunks of the trees were even 16 feet around. There is a lot of sunlight up there. We saw monkeys, bats and butterflies.

The next layer we rode through formed a canopy over the bottom two layers that are why it is called the canopy layer. It is the primary layer of the rainforest. Some animals that live there include toucans, snakes and tree frogs. We stopped and talked to one of the toucans for a bit because he looked lonely, here is what he said “ I am a Toco toucan, as you can see I have a yellow/orange and red bill with a black spot on the end and I have a black and white body.” I then asked him “what kind of things do you eat?” He responded “Some of my prey is fruit, insects, and tree frogs, but my favorite of all foods is bird eggs. Can you guess if I am and omnivore, herbivore or carnivore? “You’re an omnivore!” I replied. “Correct!”said the toucan. Next Ashlyn wanted to know what kind of things hunt toucans, so she asked “does anything hunt you?” He answered “Yes, sadly, humans like you hunt me, and my main predator is the jaguar, I hate those nasty things!” He then said “I have adaptations too; one adaptation I have is my bill. My bill helps me to bite fruit off branches that I can't perch on. My beak also helps me to skin fruits.”

Next we went through a layer called the understory; it is under the canopy and above the forest floor. There wasn’t much light and the plants were pretty small. It looked as if none of the plants were above 12 feet tall. The foliage on the plants were huge! This was so they could catch the little sunlight that reaches this layer of the rainforest and turn it into food so the plants could survive. This process is called photosynthesis. A lot of animals lived there. Some of these animals were jaguars, leopards and many insects!

Finally we reached the bottom layer, the forest floor. It was very dark and as a result, there were few plants. Since there isn’t a lot of light, things decay very quickly down there. There were tons of animals down there too. There were anteaters and also many of species of ants.

Since we were finally at the bottom we decided to explore. There we talked to a Giant ant eater. The Giant Anteater had thick bristly fur that was longer towards its butt. It was brown in color, with black and white stripes on its back and shoulder area.Its snout was about 45 cm in length and it had a large tail measuring around 70 cm long.

“Hello” it said “My name is Leonard and I am a Giant Anteater, but you probably already know that, I like to eat termites, beetles, occasionally, fruit and, of course, ants! My predators are jaguars and lions and I am not a decomposer. Some of my adaptations are my good sense of hearing and sense of smell. I have very bad eyesight so if I couldn’t smell and hear well, I would probably starve. My tongue reaches out as long as 2 feet, this helps me to get ants. Who are you?” “My name is Julia, this is Ashlyn, that’s Nina and that’s Avery” I replied “we are here to explore!!” Leonard then offered “want me to be your tour guide? I can show and tell you everything!” “Sure!” I replied, we then started our journey.

The organism Leonard pointed out was the Annatto\ Lipstick tree, “As you can see the annatto tree, sometimes called the lipstick tree, has red and sometimes brown fuzzy buds. Its habitat is very wet land with partially shady areas or very sunny areas. Its only predator is the human. Humans use it for insect repellant, lowering blood pressure, treating snake bites and it is still used today in South America to treat heartburn.” Leonard said

Next he educated us on the Foxglove, another plant of the Amazon “The Foxglove can be purple or pink; it is sometimes even white or yellow, it is never camouflaged because of its bright

colors. It looks sort of like bells and can reach up to six feet in height. The foxglove lives in moist or wet soil and likes to have a lot of sunlight, but if it doesn’t get a lot of sunlight it can still survive. It is a producer. Humans and beetles are its predators. The leaves of this plant contain digitalis, a substance used to treat heart problems. The foxglove also is used to aid in birth control,” said the anteater.

I then asked Leonard “By any chance do you know how humans affect the environment?” He answered “By any chance?! Girl, I am practically a walking talking Google, of course I know! Humans can affect the environment by cutting down trees. This can take away animals homes and can possibly lead to extinction of animals. It also takes away from the earth’s oxygen supply. This is called deforestation. Experts estimate that we’re losing 137 plant and animal species each single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. Humans also affect the environment by taking trips to our rainforest and using a motor boat to get around in the rivers; in this they pollute the air sometimes this is called, ecotourism,” he said, “also, if you wondering how the environment affects humans, the environment gives humans oxygen. The environment also affects humans by giving them rubber to make products. And the environment also affects humans by giving them medicinal plants to help cure diseases and such.”

“How do people get around in the rainforest??” Ashlyn asked. The Anteater answered “ Well, people get around in villages by canoes or by their feet. Most canoes are very big and are hand made from big trees. Also, people of the rainforest transfer goods across rivers, especially the Amazon river.” What types of products do people get from the Amazon?” Nina asked. “Some products include, minerals; like iron, manganese, uranium, bauxite, copper, gypsum, lignite, nickel, gold, hundreds of different woods, medicinal plants and natural rubber (or latex). Any other questions?” the anteater said. “Yes” Avery said “How would you describe a rainforest, in one phrase?” “I would describe it as an area of high rainfall and dense with trees.” said the anteater. “Cool, thank you so much for giving us a tour!” I said “Yes, thank you! Sorry we have to go so soon but we wouldn’t want Julia’s mom to worry too much!” Avery added “We have to be home before dark so we better get going!” said Ashlyn. “Bye!” ended Nina “Hope to see you sometime soon!” We then ran back to the Rhino and hopped on. We rode all the way home and told my mommy all we had learned.

I hope you enjoyed my story about my journey to the rainforest. But before I end I must add to what Leonard said about deforestation. To say it bluntly, deforestation is bad! We are losing oxygen and as Leo said, animals are losing their habitat; it may even lead to extinction of many species of animals, we need to conserve. Now I don’t know about you but I really don’t want a life without as many beautiful rainforest animals as possible!

 

`

Citations

Sciencehttp://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/whlayers.html

Layers of the rainforest

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Consumer http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Habitat >Definitions

http://www.makalapa.k12.hi.us/Makalapa_Folder/HTML/adapt&survive/ah/anteater.htmlhttp://www.brazilianfauna.com/giantanteater.php

http://www.life123.com/question/What-Are-the-Predators-of-Toco-ToucansAnimals

Plantshttp://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01873/amaz.htm?tql-iframehttp://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_foxglove.htm

Social Studieshttp://christiananswers.net/kids/rainforest/

http://www.environmental-protections.info/deforestation/how-does-the-deforestation-of-the-amazon-rainforest-affect-us/

www.blueplanetbiomes.org/ rainforest .htm http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/amazon-products.html

http://www.eduweb.com/rain/rainfall.htmlhttp://www.crystalinks.com/yanomami.html

http://www.life123.com/question/What-Do-the-Yanomami-Eat