The natural areas of South America are very diverse

Among all the continents of our planet, South America, along with Australia, stands out for its unique nature. Its considerable distance from other continents and isolation for a long time contributed to the formation of unique flora and fauna. The natural areas of South America are the birthplace of many endemic plants and animals that you will never find in nature on other continents.

Originality of the nature of South America

Its flora is extremely rich and has about 40 thousand different species. The continent is considered the birthplace of not only cinchona and mahogany, hevea and chocolate tree, but also many cultural plants - beans, tomatoes, potatoes, corn.

Natural areas of South America are considered the home of such unusual animals as anteaters, armadillos, sloths, guanacos. In the animal world, four species of marsupials have survived. Rodents of the continent are also peculiar - for example, chinchilla and capybara. Endemics are more than 300 species of birds, including ostrich and miniature hummingbirds.

Natural areas of South America Differ not only in flora and fauna, but also in the size of the occupied area. Some of them are elongated in the meridional direction, which is connected with the features of the relief of the continent. In South America, half of all the equatorial forests are located, which are considered to be the lungs of the planet.

Selva - South American equatorial forest

Equatorial forests of South America, located, as is clear from their name, in the equator, occupy huge areas of the Amazonian lowland. These impenetrable forest areas are called "selvas", which in Portuguese means "forest". In this natural zone, you can meet unique plants - euphorbia trees, tree ferns. In a humid and hot climate, the cinchona tree, seiba and balsa grow well. All the trees are interwoven with lianas, which climb on the trunks, spread from tree to tree, forming in some places a continuous wall of thickets.

The forests of South America are rich in animals. In the jungle, monkey-howlers, tapirs, jaguars, parrots live. Between the thick vegetation fly colorful butterflies, the wingspan of some of them reaches 27 centimeters. In the Amazon you can find rare species of fish, crocodiles, here are found dolphins, water snakes and huge anacondas.

Llanos, Pampas and Deserts

Other natural areas of South America occupy smaller areas, but are no less interesting, in each of them there is something special. Savannas, called Llanos, are covered with tall grasses, among which islets grow palm trees and acacia. In the savannah of the continent there are few hoofed animals, there are pig-bakers, anteaters, puma.

To the south of the savannah, there are vast steppes. Pampa with rich and fertile soils is the breadbasket of the continent, many different cereals are grown here. In the steppes there live pampas deer, wild cats, llamas.

On the mainland there are also arid regions occupied by semi-deserts and deserts. At the foot of the Andes is the rocky Atacama Desert, which is closer to the Pacific Ocean covered with sand dunes. South of the Andes there is an extensive semi-desert of Patagonia with a rather severe climate.