South American Rainforest

1. South American Rainforest Animals

2. Brazilian Tapir • Length of the Body: 6 to 7 feet • Length of the Tail: 2 to 4 inches • Height: 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet • Weight: 400 to 550 pounds • Diet: grasses, aquatic plants, fruits, and buds • Number of Young: 1 • Home: South America • Class: mammals • Order: odd-toed hoofed mammals • Family: tapirs • On the Endangered Species List

3. Common Marmoset • Length: 20 to 23 inches (including tail) • Weight: 10 to 13 ounces • Diet: fruits, flowers, tree sap, insects, spiders, bird eggs, and frogs • Number of Young: 1 or 2 • Home: eastern South America • Class: mammals • Order: primates • Family: marmosets, tamarins • On the Endangered Species List

4. Ocelot • Length: 2 to 3 1/4 feet • Height: 1 5/8 feet • Weight: 24 to 35 pounds • Diet: small mammals, birds, and some reptiles • Number of Young: 2 to 4 • Home: Central and South America • Class: mammals • Order: carnivores • Family: cats • On the Endangered Species List

5. Wooly Spider Monkey • Length of the Body: 18 to 25 inches • Length of the Tail: 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 feet • Diet: mainly leaves; also fruits, seeds, berries, and flowers • Weight: about 20 pounds • Number of Young: 1 • Home: southeastern Brazil • Class: mammals • Order: primates • Family: New World monkeys • On the Endangered Species List

6. Black Spider Monkey • Length of the Body: 15 to 25 inches • Length of the Tail: 25 to 36 inches • Weight: 17 to 21 pounds • Diet: leaves, fruits, buds, and flowers • Number of Young: 1 • Home: South America • Class: mammals • Order: primates • Family: New World monkeys

7. Common Squirrel Monkey • Length: 10 to 14 inches • Weight: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds • Diet: fruit and insects • Number of Young: 1 • Home: northern South America • Class: mammals • Order: primates • Family: New World monkeys

8. Kinkajou • Length of the Body: 28 inches • Length of the Tail: 22 inches • Weight: 10 pounds • Diet: fruit, insects, and honey • Number of Young: 1 or 2 • Home: Central America and northern South America • Class: mammals • Order: carnivores • Family: coatis, raccoons, and relatives

9. Night Monkey • Length: 11 to 19 inches • Length of the Tail: 10 to 17 inches • Weight: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds • Diet: tender leaves, flowers, seeds, and insects • Number of Young: 1 • Home: South America • Class: mammals • Order: primates • Family: New World monkeys

10. Spear-Nosed Bat • Length of the Body: 4 to 5 1/4 inches • Wingspan: about 1 1/2 feet • Weight: up to 3 1/2 ounces • Diet: small animals and fruits • Number of Young: 1 • Home: Central and South America • Class: mammals • Order: bats • Family: New World leaf-nosed bats

11. Tree Porcupine • Length of the Body: 20 to 24 inches • Length of the Tail: about 16 inches • Diet: mainly leaves, fruits, and other plant matter • Number of Young: 1 • Home: eastern South America • Weight: 9 to 13 pounds • Class: mammals • Order: rodents • Family: New World porcupines

12. Army Ant • Length: 1 inch • Diet: mainly wasps, ants, and other insects • Number of eggs: 100,000 to 300,000 • Home: from southern Mexico to Brazil and Peru • Class: insects • Order: ants, bees, wasps • Family: ants

13. Tarantula • Weight: to 3 ounces • Diet: mostly insects and other spiders; rarely small reptiles, amphibians, and nesting or roosting birds • Method of Reproduction: egg layer • Home: Central and South America, North America • Class: spiders, scorpions, ticks, and relatives • Order: spiders • Family: tarantulas

14. Dwarf Caiman • Length: about 4 1/2 feet • Diet: fish, crayfish, frogs, insects, and small birds and mammals • Number of Eggs: 20 or 30 • Home: northern and central South America • Class: reptiles • Order: crocodiles, caimans, and relatives • Family: alligators, caimans

15. Emerald Tree Boa • Length: 3 to 6 1/2 feet • Diet: mainly lizards and birds • Number of Young: 10 to 18 • Home: South America • Class: reptiles • Order: scaled reptiles • Family: boas, boids

16. Many-Colored Bush Anole • Length: 12 to 20 inches • Diet: mainly insects • Method of Reproduction: egg layer • Home: South America • Class: reptiles • Order: scaled reptiles • Family: anoloid lizards

17. Poison Dart Frog • Length: up to 14 inches • Diet: ants and other small arthropods • Method of Reproduction: egg layer • Home: Colombia, South America • Class: amphibians • Order: frogs and toads • Family: poison dart frogs

18. Yellow-Legged Tortoise • Diet: fruits and other plant matter • Method of Reproduction: egg layer • Length: up to 20 inches • Home: South America • Class: reptiles • Order: tortoises, turtles, and relatives • Family: tortoises

19. Red-Capped Manakin • Length: about 4 1/2 inches • Weight: about 1/2 ounce • Diet: fruits and insects • Number of Eggs: usually 2 • Home: Central and South America • Class: birds • Order: perching birds • Family: tyrant flycatchers

20. Rufous-Tailed Jacamar • Length: 9 to 11 inches • Weight: about 1 ounce • Number of Eggs: 2 or 3 • Home: Mexico, Central America, and South America • Diet: insects • Class: birds • Order: jacamars and relatives • Family: jacamars

21. Toco Toucan • Length: to 26 inches • Diet: mostly fruit, insects, lizards, and the eggs and young of small birds • Number of Eggs: 2 to 4 • Home: Central America and tropical South America • Class: birds • Order: woodpeckers, toucans, and relatives • Family: toucans

22. Assignment • Watch the slideshow and pick the one South American Rainforest animal you would want to be. • Write in your journals: • What animal you picked. • Why you want to be that animal.

23. Resources • All pictures and information were taken from: • Amazing Animals of the World®. 2007. Grolier Online. 12 Sep. 2007 <http://ama.grolier.com/>.