Animals you can spot in the Amazones
The Amazon is a super unique and a mesmerizing place. The Amazonian rainforest spans over 9 countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana) and spans 6.7 million square kilometers.
Besides 40.000 plant species, there are around 3000 fish species, more than 370 types of reptiles and 1300 different kinds of birds. AMAZING! Some animals are also living in other places in Brazil but some are exclusively living in the Amazonian rainforest.
When you go to the Amazon you can do different tours and see lots of the animals that are on the list down below.
I will first write about the animals we saw and then add the ones we didn’t see. I really hope you will be able to see all of the wonderful, interesting and sometimes colorful animals.
First a bit of information about what to expect while you are there. Because the Amazon is so large there is no guarantee that you will see the animals that you want. It’s always a surprise what you will see. One of the easier ways to see animals is going on the river by boat. The animals come there to drink and it’s more open for you to see different species. Inside the rainforest itself it was easy to hear lots of animals but much harder to see them. Sometimes the trees are so thickly overgrown or so incredibly tall that it is difficult to see the animals. But your guide will definitely point out all kinds of beautiful, scary and fascinating animals.
Toco toucan
There is a very high chance for you to see the toucan if you visit the Amazon. There are around 45 species of this colorful bird, they vary in color and in size. We saw them a couple of times but to see them up close can be a challenge. They do like to live together and therefore you will probably see more than one. I also saw them all over Brazil and they live all over South America. If you like to see them up close you can visit Foz do Iguaçu because there is a very cool bird park there where you can see them more closely.
Sloth
The first time I went to the Amazon I didn’t see this super funny animal but the second time we did. We stayed at a jungle hotel and our guide told us that one of the staff members spotted a sloth high up in one of the trees on the property. It was so cool to see this lazy animal. We all know that they sleep a lot, but did you know they sleep less in the wild than if they were in the zoo? They sleep between 9-15 hours per day in the forest and between 15-18 in captivity. The one we saw was eating leaves like they all do and yes, it moved super slowly.
Green anaconda
We saw this large snake but it was at night, in the water and it was pitch black. We managed to shine a flashlight on it to see but taking a picture was impossible. It is pretty scary and impressive how large this snake is. This member of the boa family is the heaviest snake in the world. They can grow to 8,8 meters or 29 feet, they can weigh more than 250 kg or 550 pounds. The anaconda eats wild pigs, deer, birds, capybaras, caimans and if they have the chance even jaguars. The female snake is larger than the male.
Capybara
How I like capybaras! They are so cute. This rodent is the largest of its kind. They look friendly, live with their family and are usually just eating. The capybara eats plants and is eaten by lots of animals like puma, green anaconda and jaguar for instance. They graze in large groups and love to swim.
Frogs
The list will be much longer if I write down all the different frogs we saw and heard. Some species can be incredibly loud. Once we heard a noise like a growl and our guide told us it was a frog. There are; variable clown tree frogs, the Amazonian poisonous frog, splendid leaf frog, tiger-legged frog, Smokey jungle frog, red eyed tree frog, poisonous dart frog and loads more. We saw a couple but they jumped off far too quickly to take a picture.
Caiman
There are six different types of Caiman that live in the Amazon and five of those are smaller than crocodiles but one species is larger. Most of them are around 1.2 meters but the largest, the black caiman, can get 5 meters long. We did see a lot of small caiman or in Portuguese Yacare on the banks of the river. They love it out there. The largest was the black caiman and it was about 2.4 meters long. When you do a night tour, the guide will shine its light around and you can spot the bright eyes from these animals.
Macaw
The macaw is quite easy to spot in the rainforest. They usually fly over but maybe you are lucky to spot them while they are on a branch close to the river. Did you know that they fall in love once and stay together forever? Fortunately they can live together for a while because their lifespan is around 60 years. Coconuts are no challenge for them, they can crack it open with their beaks.
Monkeys
Again, if I would list all the monkeys here this list would be endless. The most common monkeys you can see are the black-capped squirrel monkeys and spider monkeys. There are other squirrel monkeys that are more common to see too. We heard some monkeys while we were on our jungle walk but we were not able to spot them because they were very high up in the canopies. The red howler monkey and bearded emperor tamarin are also not as easy to find but hopefully you will see them if you go.
Pink river dolphin
Pink river dolphins are exactly as their name suggests, they live in the river and are pink. They look nothing like the marine dolphin because their snout is very long stretched and of course they aren’t grey. And although they don’t look as cute, they are as friendly as the marine dolphins. We were fortunate to swim with the river dolphins in the Rio Negro very close by the meeting of the waters. They also use sonar to catch fish. You can see it in the video I made while we were there.
Blue Morpho Butterfly
This super bright butterfly is one of the many butterflies you will see in the Amazones. As the name suggests it really is blue and not a little bit but really bright blue. The blue morpho ranks among the world’s largest butterflies, boasting wingspans ranging from twelve and a half cm to twenty cm or five to eight inches. Its stunning, iridescent blue hue is attributed to the microscopic scales on the wing’s surface, reflecting the sunlight. We saw them a couple of times but they were far away. Even though they weren’t close, we could see them well because of their color.
Hoatzin
The hoatzin has to be one of the strangest birds found in the Amazon. This bird looks like a weird chicken and has more than one stomach, just like a cow! Our guide explained that a lot of people believe they are descendants of the dinosaurs because they supposedly smell like reptiles, they look menacing and they have a claw at the end of their wings (for protection and climbing). They might look scary, they are strictly vegetarians. We saw many of them while we were out on the river.
Hummingbird
Coming from Europe, it was in Brazil that I saw a hummingbird for the first time. Although hummingbirds are also found in North America, there are some types that only live in the Amazon rainforest. Hummingbirds earned their name due to the humming sound produced by their rapid wing beats, audible to both birds and humans. They achieve this by flapping their wings at a high frequentie, ranging from approximately 12 beats per second in larger species to an impressive 80 beats per second in smaller hummingbirds, enabling them to hover effortlessly. I don’t know the specific names of the ones that we saw but they look very beautiful.
Lorikeet
Before you send me a message that I missed so many birds, I apologize. There are so many birds you can see in this place that if I would write all of them down, you would be bored (unless of course you love birds). But here is one that you will probably see and definitely will hear. The lorikeet is such a fun and happy bird, there are multiple types within this family and most of them live in big flocks. At our first stay, there was a scaly breasted lorikeet that they rescued and now it considers them its family. That was so sweet to see.
Anteater
One of the animals I really wanted to see in Brazil was/is the anteater and I’m sad to see it didn’t. There are four different types of anteater and all of them are in South America. The giant anteater and the silky anteater have been spotted in the Amazon. The giant anteater can grow to 1.8 meters (or six feet long) and it has a beautiful striped pattern on its baggy and a very fluffy tail. The silky anteater is way smaller at 44 centimeters or 17 inches and because it is nocturnal it’s very hard to see it. I was a bit sad not to have seen it, but let’s be real, I can hardly complain with all the other animals I did see.
Armadillo
The armadillo is a really cool animal. The name armadillo means ‘little armored one’. There are 20 species of armadillo and all of them originate from the South Americas. It’s very hard to see the armadillo in the rainforest. We saw loads of armadillo holes (where they sleep) but never saw one in the forest. When I was in the wetlands of Pantanal we spotted a couple of them at the fazenda (farm) where we stayed.
Harpy eagle
This really cool eagle is one of the largest of its kind and the largest raptor in the Amazon. They live deep in the jungle and only if you travel to a remote area will you have a chance to see them. We were not fortunate this time. In the Amazon rainforest, Harpy Eagles share the top of the food chain with jaguars and anacondas. The jaguar rules the forest floor, the anaconda is king of swamps, rivers and lakes, and the harpy eagle dominates the canopy of the rainforest. Did you know they can attack animals like capybaras, sloths, monkeys and even on occasion deer?
Puma
Because the puma is mostly active during the night, it will be very hard to see this animal. And we also did not see it. Pumas are solitary animals and thus keep mainly to themselves. There are so many names for this beast, including cougar, mountain lion, and panther, among others. The name depends on where the puma is located. In the rainforest in Brazil it is called puma concolor.
South American Tapir
On the two trips to the Amazon I didn’t see the tapir but in Pantanal we did. Don’t you think the tapir looks funny? It has a trunk-like snout and it loves mud. Not only for playing but it has a purpose too. The tapir is plagued by parasites and when that happens they can become very ill. In order to kill the parasites, it rolls in the mud, covering every inch and then letting the mud dry. The mud then kills the parasites because they don’t have any oxygen, at least that’s what our guide told us. Tapirs are smart, they hide in the water from the jaguar and puma.
Giant otter
This animal is also on my list of animals I really wanted to see but didn’t. Though you can see it in the Amazon rainforest, we didn’t. These fish-eating beasts can get 1.8 meters or 5.9 feet, which is a lot bigger than most otter species. The giant otter uses its whiskers to detect water vibrations and thus prey. And if the fish doesn’t bite they eat small capybaras or even small anacondas. If you go, I would love to hear if you saw this otter.
As noted, I went to the Amazon Rainforest twice. The first time was very primitive, in a cabin without running water, there was an outhouse with water from the river and we only had electricity at night between 6 and 9. It was further away from the city and the area was incredibly beautiful. The name of the place is called Ney eco adventures.
The second time was more comfortable and I loved the fact that we had air conditioning, I missed that the first time. We saw loads of animals and it was nice that it was a bit closer to the city. The name of this accommodation is Amazonia Jungle Hotel. If you are interested you can check out the information here on booking.com.
Do you want to know what to bring to the Amazones? I have written a blogpost with everything you need to bring when you have a trip to the rainforest.
Is the Amazon rainforest accessible for wheelchair users? The short answer is no.
Because of the almost non-existent infrastructure it’s hard to travel here. There are some very specific hotels but they are very expensive and there will be some challenges. Because of the weather conditions, rains and higher and lower rivers traveling is very difficult.
Attractions*
Bad, it will not be possible for wheelchair users to do most tours in the jungle
Café’s and restaurants
You need check with your accommodation what the possibilities are.
Public transport
In the Amazon rainforest there is only public transport in the bigger cities and they don’t have any ramps.
Toilets
If you go inside malls or other public places you will have a designated toilet for wheelchair users.
*And other attractions
Items I love while traveling
Feet hammock airplane
This airplane hammock for your feet is great for when you are traveling long flights. I love that it can be hung over the airplane table and I can rest my feet when I’m tired. It is adjustable and it is really comfortable.
Collapsible handheld fan
I don’t know about how you deal with heat but I need a bit of cooling down when I’m traveling. This easy (and cute) fan is my go to for when I am too hot. It can be charged with usb which is super practical.
Airplane pocket
Being organized always makes me happy and when I saw this amazing pocket for over your airplane table I was sold. You place it over the table (so you instantly have a clean table) and you can add all you need, when you have a long flight.