16 Cool Facts about the Amazon River and its Drainage Basin

With an approximate length of 6400km, the Amazon River is considered the second largest river in the world after the Nile. The river’s main source is believed to be the Apurimac River, in Peru. It runs through Brazil. Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Guyana. The river forms the largest drainage basin on earth and also contains the largest tropical rainforest in the world. The river is also the largest in South America. After flowing eastwards, the river eventually empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Given below are some cool and interesting facts about the Amazon river and its drainage basin:

Even though it’s shorter than the Nile, the Amazon River contains more water than the Nile, Mississippi and Yangtze River combined. The river is also sometimes called the River Sea.

It has the largest drainage basin on earth with an approximate area of about 7,050,000 km².

Amazon River has an average water flow rate of 209000m³/s. This is the greater than the flow rates of the Congo, Orinoco, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Madeira, Yangtze and the  Negro rivers combined.

The river has more than 1100 tributaries.

It contains more than 5000 different kind of fish species. Some of them are very deadly can kill humans. These include the Piranha, Candiru Fish, Pacu, Electric Eel, Arapaima and Payara fish.

The Amazon is also a home to a lot of deadliest species of animals, insects and reptiles.

The Amazon Rainforest in the Amazon drainage basin is the largest tropical rainforest on earth and occupies an area of about 5,500,000 km². The forest is often called as the “Lungs of our planet” because it absorbs about 25% of total Carbon Dioxide emissions produced.

More than one third of all living species reside in the Amazon forest.

The Amazon River and its rainforests are home to not only some incredible species of animals and birds but thousands of fruits and anti-cancer plants are also found in it.

The Amazon River contains about one fifth of all the freshwater on earth. It is also responsible for pouring 25% of the world’s fresh water into oceans.

The river has a width of 5 miles in several places. During the wet season, when the river volume is at its peak the width can increase up to 15 miles.

About 90% of the Amazon rainforest plants are yet to be studied and researched by scientists.

It is said that about 50 or more tribes living in different inner parts of the Amazon rainforest have never had any contact with the modern world.

The Amazon rainforest is being deforested very brutally. It is estimated that if the current rate of deforestation in the forest continues, by the year 2030, 27% of the rainforest will be without trees.

Monthly, over hundreds of the different species of plants, animals and birds living in the forest come under the threat of extinction. Many species have already gone extinct.

It is also believed, that many undiscovered species of the Amazon may already have gone extinct.