Wikijunior:South America/The Amazon

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Part of Wikijunior South America project

The Amazon Basin is the land covered by the Amazon River. The Amazon Basin is 6,915,000 km² (2,670,000 mi²). It is bigger than many countries. The land it covers includes parts of Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador.

The Amazon River is the second longest and the biggest river on Earth. The main Amazon River is 6,387 km. It is also made up of many smaller rivers called tributaries. Thousands of kinds of fish and turtles live in the Amazon River, including Piranha. The Boto, a kind of freshwater dolphin, also lives in the Amazon River. The Anaconda, the world's largest snake, lives there too.

In the Amazon Basin there is also the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest is the biggest rainforest in the world. It covers 5.5 million km², almost half of all rainforests in the world. Lots of animals and plants can only be found in the Amazon Rainforest.