Among all the continents of the world South America, along with Australia, stands peculiar nature.Much of its remoteness from other continents and isolation for a long time contributed to the formation of unique flora and fauna.Natural areas of South America are home to many endemic plants and animals you never see in nature to other continents.
originality of nature in South America
Its flora is extremely rich and has about 40 thousand different species.The continent is the birthplace not only of cinchona and mahogany, rubber trees and chocolate tree, but many crop - beans, tomatoes, potatoes and corn.
Natural areas of South America are considered native home of unusual animals like anteaters, armadillos, sloths, guanacos.In the animal world, preserved four kinds of marsupials.Rodents mainland also peculiar - for example, chinchilla and capybara.Endemics are more than 300 species of birds, including ostrich and rhea tiny hummingbirds.
Natural areas of South America are not only the flora and fauna, but also the size of the occupied area.Some of them are elongated in the meridional direction, which is connected with the peculiarities of the relief of the continent.In South America is half of the equatorial forests, which are considered lungs of the planet.
Selva - South American equatorial forest
equatorial forests of South America, settling down, as is clear from their names, in the equatorial region, occupy vast areas of the Amazon region.These rugged forest area called "selvas", which in Portuguese means "forest".In this natural area you can find unique plants - Euphorbiaceae trees, tree ferns.In humid and hot climates grow well cinchona, ceiba and balsa.All trees entwined with vines that climb the trunks are thrown from tree to tree, sometimes forming a solid wall of bushes.
forests of South America are rich in animals.In the jungle inhabited by howler monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, parrots.Between the dense vegetation multicolored butterflies fly, wingspan of some of them reaches 27 centimeters.At Amazon you can find rare species of fish, crocodiles, is home to dolphins, water snakes and huge anaconda.
Llanos, pampas and deserts
other natural areas of South America are smaller, but no less interesting, each of them has something special.Savannah called llanos, covered with tall grasses, including the islands of palm trees and acacias.In mainland savannah small ungulates, there are pigs, peccaries, anteaters, puma.
south of the savannah is a vast steppes.Pampa with the rich and fertile soil is the breadbasket of the continent, there are many different cultivated cereals.In the steppes inhabited pampas deer, wild cats, llamas.
On the mainland there are also arid areas occupied by deserts and semi-deserts.At the foot of the Andes is a stony desert of Atacama, which is closer to the Pacific Ocean is covered with sand dunes.To the south of the Andes is a vast semi-desert Patagonia with a fairly harsh climate.
