Top 5 (of the most lethal) Animals in the Amazon Rainforest
Over 4000 creatures roam, crawl, fly, swim, and inhabit every corner and surface of the Amazon. Imagine stepping into the chaos; you'd wouldn't be able to take a few steps without seeing something, someone, new, and I think that's crazy. Crazy and beautiful. The Amazon is like a giant kaleidoscope, chaotic and blurry in its infinite shifting parts, glorious if you can focus your gaze.
I'm here to focus your gaze.
Here are five fascinating animals of the Amazon that I think deserve a spotlight, however brief, in my Amazon Rainforest series.
1. The Jaguar (Panthera onca)
As the largest cat in South America, the Jaguar is only rivaled in its feline dominance by the lion and tiger. Jaguars are solitary animals and are very territorial; they often mark their territories by clawing trees so if you happen to be in the Amazon, watch out for the trees. To a Jaguar, trees are basically like giant scratching sticks.
Jaguars can see six times better than humans and have a special layer in their eyes that reflects light at night. However, Jaguars aren't technically nocturnal; instead, they're described as crepuscular, meaning they're most active at dawn and dusk.
Although it has no natural predators, the Jaguar is listed as Near Threatened due to poaching and habitat loss, which I feel like is a given at this point. What species isn't affected by habitat loss?
2. The Black Caiman (Melanosuchus niger)
With a body length of 10-20 feet, the Black Caiman is considered to be one of the Amazon Basin's biggest predators; it's also the fourth largest member of the Alligatoridae family. The Black Caiman's black scales camouflage itself in the night and the water, allowing this reptile to capture prey easily. The majority of the Black Caiman's diet is made up of fish, piranhas, and small mammals like the tapir and capybara. Some Black Caimans will even attack jaguars and anacondas.
The Black Caiman has adapted to its habitat with several features. Besides serving as camouflage, its black scales absorb heat, ensuring the Caiman doesn't overheat in the Amazon's tropical climate. This creature has remarkable vision and hearing that assists it in hunting during the night when it is most active.
3. The Amazonian Giant Centipede (Scolopendra gigantea)
This centipede is the longest type of centipede in the world. Although the name centipede refers to having 100 legs, the Amazonian Giant Centipede only has 46. Oddly enough, these centipedes breathe through the sides of their bodies using openings that lead to a system of internal tubes.
Make no mistake, although these insects are tiny, Giant Centipedes are actually vicious carnivores that will take down creatures double in size, like lizards and small mammals. Because they have a poor sense of vision, Amazonian Giant Centipedes use their long antennas to feel for their prey. Once they've caught something, the centipedes inject venom from their forcipules, pincher-like forearms, into the prey and tear it apart like a kid ripping open a Christmas present.
4. The Electric Eel (Electrophorus electricus)
This creature gets its name from the 600 volts it can generate from its muscular eight-foot body. 6000 electrocytes in the Electric Eel's body store power in the same way as bodies and discharge themselves immediately when threatened.
Electric Eels also use their charge to locate prey in the water, using around 10 volts to do so. These eels eat fish and small amphibians... after they've stunned them of course.
5. The Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus)
Surprisingly, at least to me, Green Anacondas live near swamps and marshes and are excellent swimmers, making up for the fact that they're actually rather sluggish on land. Green Anacondas submerge themselves in the water and wait for prey to pass by on land, striking when the opportunity is right. Once they've struck their prey, usually fish, small mammals, and birds, the Green Anaconda utilizes its fatal hug and squeezes it to death.
Green Anacondas can even take down tapirs, caimans, jaguars, and humans. For smaller creatures, Green Anacondas can swallow their prey whole. However, these anacondas don't need to eat more than once every few weeks.
So, if you ever run into a Green Anaconda, toss it some other food, and it'll probably take that instead of you.
In this case, the saying of not needing to outrun the predator, just the person next to you, is very applicable here.
...In fact, I think this could be true for many of the animals in this post. Unintentionally, all five of these animals somehow turned out to be some of the most dangerous animals in the Amazon Rainforest. I think I'm actually going to change the title of this post. Maybe something like "A Survival Guide to the Amazon Rainforest's Lethal Animals".
We'll see.
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