“Iconic animals” is the journal series to introduce animals that dwell in each continent of Earth. The first series of Iconic Animals starts with South America!

South America, where countries like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador are located, is a continent where the heart of Earth, Amazon, exists. Because of the huge tropical rainforest, it is the land where most of the species are inhabiting. Now, I will introduce three of the most famous animals living there.

1. Amazon River Dolphin

Have you heard of a mysterious pink dolphin? The Amazon River dolphin, also known as the pink dolphin because of its unique skin color, is a species that is only found in the river flowing inside the Amazon forest. They live only in the river with brackish water, a mixture of freshwater and the sea water. They are the biggest river dolphin species in the world. The male pink dolphin usually grows up to 3 meters and 154 kilograms, while female pink dolphins grow up to 2 meters and 100 kilograms. Interesting fact about them is that they are slow swimmers compared to other species that have similar sizes. They swim usually at a speed of 1.5 to 3.2 kilometers/hour.

Their skins are gray when they are young, but slowly turn into pink when they grow up. Despite its uniqueness and popularity, the Amazon River dolphins is an endangered species. They are the last of the other five river dolphin species, since the other species are basically extinct. A lot of factors have threatened the pink dolphins, but the main reason is the mercury pollution in the river due to gold mining activities occurring nearby. It is really hard to see them in nature, so some expert explorers are creating package trip products for seeing the pink dolphins to attract people to raise money.

They eat various species that live inside the river – up to 50 species including piranhas, the scary carnivorous fish in the river.

2. Anaconda

If you think about anaconda, you would think about a huge, long snake that can eat you in one bite. Yes, that’s true. Anaconda, also known as the world’s largest living snake (by weight), is found in South America.

There are four species of anaconda in the world: the yellow anaconda(found from the Pantanal region to northern Argentina), green anaconda (the largest and best-known anaconda), the Bolivian anaconda, and the dark-spotted anaconda (living in northeastern South America).

The interesting fact is that even though they are very large and strong, they don’t have poison at all. So when they hunt their prey, they just coil them up and tighten until the prey can’t breath and eventually die.

3. Capybara

The final animal is a species that is not well-known: the capybaras! They are not as known as the two previous animals, but if you look into their charm, I am sure you would love them.

Short hair, round head and ears, and body size of a labrador retriever… Some might think that they are just a kind of big-size mammal, but the interesting fact is that they are a species of rodents (the big branch of species which includes mouse, rat, hamster, guinea pig, etc) . They are the world’s largest rodent found mostly in the freshwater of the South America continent, but besides Chile. They are semi-aquatic animals, which means they can live in both water and the ground. They have slightly webbed toes, and they can hold their breath for up to five minutes.

Although they can’t breathe inside the water because they lack a respiratory system like fish, they love to swim and find food inside. That is why they often build their shelters near rivers or streams.

Reference: https://www.amazonexperience.net/pink-dolphins-facts-and-information/ https://www.activewild.com/south-american-animals/#amazon-river-dolphin https://www.activewild.com/south-american-animals/ https://www.activewild.com/amazon-river-dolphin-facts/ https://animalsake.com/why-are-pink-dolphins-endangered https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/amazon-river-dolphin