Rainforest Trekking and Amazing Amazon Ants

I expected the Amazon Rainforest to be really hot and to hear a lot of sounds from all the different animals and I wasn’t disappointed. I was surprised at how big it was and the Ecuadorian rainforest makes up just 2% of the Amazon rainforest in total. And though its just 2%, it is the most bio-diverse and has by far (alongside Peru’s Amazon) the most species due to its proximity to the Andes. The only thing I disliked about is were the Mosquitos, but it was one of the most fun highlights of our travelling so far.

Walking through the forest was really cool. You could see quite a lot because there isn’t much foliage at ground level. That is because the trees are very tall and have large canopies that block out the light on the forest floor. However there is quite a lot of activity still. The word ‘Jungle’ is not actually accurate. Jungle is technically when the forest has been disturbed (cut down) and the result is that there is a lot of plant growth becoming an impenetrable mass – JUNGLE. But in the primary rainforest it is not jungle.

Leafcutter Ants

When we walked through the Rainforest every few metres we had to step over a line of ants carrying big pieces of leaves. The leaf fragments were usually about ten times the size of the ant and probably 100 times heavier! That’s the equivalent of me carrying a car several miles. There were busy motorways of ants travelling with their leaves often up to three miles. Leafcutter ants use their powerful jaws to cut leaves and take them back to their nests. They then use them to grow an underground fungus garden. The fungus they grow becomes their food and gives them energy to collect more leaves. All this work helps the soil to stay healthy and for new plants to grow.

Bullet Ants

They are named the Bullet Ant because their sting is so bad it feels like you were shot by a gun. And while the venom is incredibly painful with pain lasting at least 24 hours, it is not deadly and has no lasting effects. Bullet Ants search for nectar on the ground floor. Bullet ants live up to about 90 days. Since we read ‘The Explorers’ by Katherine Rundell, I have wanted to see one and in the end I did finally!