Animal Adventures South America

Animal Adventures
South America

Many have compared the topography of South America to a bowl because the inner part of the continent is relatively flat and most of the perimeter is lined with mountain ranges including the Andes Mountains, the longest mountain range in the world. Most of the continent is tropical, but a wide range of climates can be found in South America, which is why it’s so biodiverse. South America is home to the Amazon River, and while it isn’t the longest river in the world it does carry the most water. In fact, The Amazon River has more water than the other 10 largest rivers combined.

Raccoon

Raccoons have very dexterous front hands which are four times as sensitive as their back paws. This allows them to identify different objects without seeing them during the night. They are also able to heighten the sensitivity of their hands by wetting them before...

Red-Eyed Tree Frog

Red eyed tree frogs lay their eggs on leaves above ponds and when the tadpoles hatch they drop into the water. They live in the water until they develop into little brown frogs at which point they move to land. Once they reach adulthood, their color changes to...

Reticulated Glass Frog

Reticulated glass frogs have translucent undersides which make their internal organs visible when looking at them from below. Scientists don’t know the reason for the glass frog’s clear belly, but they do have ideas on the purpose of the pattern on its back....

Scorpion

Scorpions have been on the planet for hundreds of millions of years, even since before the age of dinosaurs. This can be owed in part to their amazing endurance. Scorpions can slow down their metabolism to the point that they can live off of only one insect for a...

Sea Star

Most sea stars have 5 arms but some are able to grow up to 50. Each of these arms is covered into tiny suckers and organs which the sea star uses to creep along the floor of the ocean. Sea stars generally aren’t very social, but occasionally groups of them will...

Seahorse

Seahorses are able to change colors in order to camouflage with their environment in order to evade predators and sneak up on their prey. The ability to hide is especially important for seahorses because they’re extremely slow, only reaching speeds up to 4.9 feet...

Skunk

Skunks are best known for their bad smelling musk which they spray out from two glands near the base of their tail when they feel threatened. Sometimes skunks will give a warning by growling, stamping their front feet, and lifting their tails. If the threat doesn’t...

Spider Monkey

Spider Monkeys are able to use their tails as an extra limb to grab onto trees. They were called spider monkeys because some think they look like monkeys when they hang by their tails from trees with their limbs dangling. They spend most of the daytime climbing and...

Stingray

Stingrays have flat bodies which allow them to dig into the ocean floor in order to hide from predators or wait for prey to swim by. Some stingrays swim by moving their entire bodies in a wave while others flap their fins like a bird flaps its wings. Stingrays...

Three Toed Sloth

Sloths are best known for their slow movement, which some scientists believe is an adaptation to be less noticeable to predators who rely on eyesight to hunt. They spend almost all of their time in the trees and sleep for 20 hours every day. Sloths move so little...