1,200 New Species Discovered in the Amazon Rain Forest

 

The Amazon rainforest has thousands of different kinds of plants and animals. In the past  decade  more than 1,200 new  species were discovered .

According to a World Wildlife report the Amazon is home to over 600 plants, 250 fish, 200  amphibians  and almost 40 mammals  that have been unknown up to now. The report says these species are in danger if we don’t do anything to  protect  them. In the last 50 years over 17% of the rain forest has been destroyed.

 

 

The new  species  include

  • a new four meter long snake discovered in the Bolivian Amazon region
  • an  extraordinary  frog with a leg pattern  that has been unseen before; it lives , in the Peruvian lowlands of the Amazon
  • a colorful parrot discovered in the Brazilian rain forest; they are in danger of becoming extinct because there are very few of them
  • a pink river dolphin that is different than the Bolivian dolphin discovered in the 19th century ; it has a shorter body  and more teeth
  • a new red catfish that lives mainly in underground  waters

 

 

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Words

  • according to   = as said by …
  • amphibian   = animals like frogs that can live on land and in water
  • catfish   = a fish with hair around its mouth ; it lives in lakes and rivers
  • century   = a hundred years
  • decade   = a period of ten years
  • discover   = to find something  for the first time
  • extraordinary   = strange, unusual, special
  • mammal   = an animal that drinks from its mother’s body when it is young; people, dogs and whales are among mammals
  • pattern   = the ways shapes and colors repeat themselves
  • protect   = guard, save
  • species   = group or class of animal or plants