Andiroba: the varzea tree behind Amazonia’s natural repellent oil
The andiroba tree and the flooded varzea forest sustain an extractive economy that keeps the rainforest standing and yields a natural repellent oil.
Anne Silva
Amazonian Dark Earth: the black soil built by ancient hands
Amazonian dark earth, rich in archaeological charcoal, holds a fertility that lasts for centuries and offers lessons for sustainable farming and climate action.
How Amazonian Bat Echolocation Inspires Radars and Smart Canes
The echolocation system of Amazonian bats, able to fire up to two hundred pulses per second, now guides the design of naval sonar, rescue robots and electronic canes for blind people.
The Amazonian Manatee, Silent Gardener of Freshwater Rivers
The Amazonian manatee is the only manatee that lives solely in fresh water, eating up to 10 percent of its body weight in plants each day and regulating the aquatic vegetation of the basin.
The Maned Wolf and the Wolf Apple: An Alliance That Regrows the Cerrado
South America’s largest canid eats more fruit than meat, becoming the most efficient seed sower of Brazil’s open savannas.
The Sloth Has the Slowest Metabolism in the Amazon
The sloth carries the slowest metabolism of any mammal in the Americas, taking a month to digest a single meal and tuning every gesture to that extreme economy.
Copaiba Oil: The Amazon Bioeconomy That Keeps the Forest Standing
Copaiba oil is tapped without felling the tree and feeds a global chain of natural cosmetics, sustaining the income of thousands of Amazonian families.
Black Caiman: The Amazon’s Largest Freshwater Predator
The black caiman rules the Amazon’s rivers as the largest freshwater predator in the Americas, pairing an extreme bite with razor-sharp senses that hold the wetlands in balance.
The Giant Armadillo Digs Amazon Burrows That Shelter Hundreds of Animals
The largest armadillo on Earth opens tunnels more than forty centimetres wide in Amazonian soil, leaving behind shelters that dozens of mammals, birds and reptiles reuse to escape the heat and hide from predators.
The Sound Warning a Rattlesnake Gives Before It Strikes
Brazil’s only venomous snake that announces itself: how the keratin rattle works, why the vibration outruns the human eye and what that dry sound is actually asking for.