Animals in the Atlantic Rainforest
The Atlantic Rainforest is located in Brazil's Serra dos Órgãos Mountains, which runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean on Brazil's southeastern coast. According the the World Land Trust, only seven percent of the original forest remain in 2010. The mountain range of the Atlantic Rainforest is a highly diverse ecosystem with a rich variety of wildlife, which are mostly critically endangered.
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Reptiles and Amphibians
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The Brazilian snake-necked turtle only grows to eight inches long and resides in the Atlantic Rainforest. Snakes in the region include the golden lancehead. The region hosts more than 450 species of amphibians and include the frogs, Phyllomedusa ayeaye and Scinax alcatraz. The Brazilian gold frog, which is the smallest frog in the Southern Hemisphere, is endangered, as well as similar frogs in this area called saddle-back frogs.
Mammals
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Scientists discovered a new tamarin in 1990 in the Atlantic Rainforest; the black-faced lion tamarin is considered critically endangered. Other tamarins in the forest include the muriqui, which are South America's largest primate. The endangered blonde capuchin, which is a pale-haired primate, is also a resident of the rainforest. The maned sloth, a species of three-toed sloth, lives here as well as the thin-spined porcupine and the Brazilian arboreal mouse. Due to deforestation, many of these mammals are critically endangered.
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Birds
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According to the Encyclopedia of the Earth, the Atlantic Rainforest is home to 930 bird species, about 15 percent of which are found only here. Pollution and the erecting of dams have caused the Brazilian merganser to be named as one of the world's most threatened species of waterfowl. The Alagoas curassow is extinct in the wild but found in captivity in Brazil. Parrots such as red-tailed Amazon and the red-browed Amazon live here as well as the Atlantic royal fly catcher.
Threats to Wildlife
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Logging, pollution and deforestation are among the threats to the wildlife and indigenous tribes in the Atlantic Rainforest, and only two indigenous tribes remain in the rainforest. In the 1500s, Portuguese settlers began exporting the timber in the region and establishing cattle ranching and sugar plantations. By 1940 the Minas Gerais area was destroyed to supply the demand for charcoal, and eucalyptus plantations were planted. In the 1960s, the area saw rapid industrialization and loss of habitat to support the large population that live on the coast east of the Atlantic Rainforest.
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References
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- Photo Credit brazil map image by Goran Bogicevic from Fotolia.com
