• Remember that there are dangers lurking in the waters of the Amazon: electric eels can electrocute you, piranha can give you a nasty bite, and a big caiman could eat you!
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You take a step towards the hive and straight away, several bees land on you and sting. You swat at them. Within seconds, you’re surrounded by a cloud of stinging insects. You run away, but there are bees already on you and hundreds more in hot pursuit. So many bees have stung you that, even though you’re not allergic to bee stings, you have a heart attack and die.
The end.
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Click here to find out more about Africanised honey bees.
Africanised Honey Bees
• Believe it or not, Africanised honey bees are more feared by people in the Amazon than anacondas, jaguars, snakes and spiders!
• The bees were introduced by accident in the 1950s by scientists who had crossed European honey bees with African ones. They’re now widespread in South America, Central America and the southern United States.
• They are more aggressive than European honey bees and will defend their hive ferociously. When one bee stings, it releases a chemical alerting other bees to the threat, causing them to sting as well.
• The sting of an Africanised honey bee is no more toxic or painful than a European honey bee’s sting, but the danger is that lots of bees will sting at once. If you’re stung enough times, you’ll die.
• Some people are allergic to bee stings and they can die from even one sting from a European honeybee.
• The Africanised bees, also known as killer bees, are out-competing native Amazonian bees, which are mostly stingless.
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There’s a trail leading from the riverside back into the forest, and you take it. You realise you might be heading into a different danger, but you couldn’t stand being beside the river any longer – you’re sure there was something lurking there.
The further you get from the river, the gloomier it gets. You start to wonder if you’d be better off going back . . . when suddenly you hear movement in the trees and whirl round, your heart pounding. There’s a snorting sound. Could it be something fierce, like a jaguar? You draw in a breath and hide behind a tree. But you breathe out again when you see what’s making the sounds. Not far away, a tapir snuffles about on the forest floor. It stops and stares at you in alarm, then runs off. What a relief!
The trail splits in two. One leads deeper into the forest, while the other looks as though it will take you back to the river, further downstream.
If you decide to take the trail back towards the river, click here.
If you decide to go deeper into the forest, click here.
You find a stream and rinse out your sodden, sweaty socks, then hang them to dry in a patch of sunlight, thankful that it isn’t raining. You clean your feet, too, as best you can. You push a couple of stout sticks into the forest floor, then hang your wet boots from them, facing downwards. That way, nothing is likely to crawl into them! You spread your waterproof jacket out on the floor in the sunshine and sit on it so that your feet are in the sun and the rest of you is in the shade. It’s not long before your feet start to feel slightly better.
You’ve made the right decision. Your feet are showing the first signs of warm water immersion foot, a consequence of continuously keeping your feet in warm and wet conditions. You rest while your socks and boots dry out, then put them on again. Your feet still hurt, but not nearly as much.
A strange chirping sound makes you investigate some tree roots. In a small pool of water amongst the roots, there’s a tiny, bright blue frog. It’s beautiful! You’ve never seen anything like it before.
If you decide it’s time you were moving on, click here.
If you decide to stay and observe the tree frog, and maybe give your feet a longer breather, click here.
You don’t want to alarm the sloth, just to get a better look. But as you approach, the creature lashes out with its long, filthy-looking claws and takes a savage bite out of your hand, which you’re holding up to it as you would to a dog.
You stagger backwards, shocked. You’d thought sloths barely moved, and had no idea they were dangerous! The sloth has made deep wounds in your arms and face with its long claws, and they’re pouring with blood. You can hardly bear to look at the nasty wound in your hand. Now that the shock is wearing off, the pain’s kicking in, making you feel sick. You look at the sloth, which is still hanging upside down in the tree. It looks absolutely filthy. Who knows what bacteria are lurking in those claws? You decide you have to find water to clean the dirty wounds, and lurch off in search of some. However, it’s not long before the blood loss makes you pass out. Without shelter, water and medical attention, you soon die.
The end.
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Click here to find out more about sloths.
Sloths
• There are two-toed sloths and three-toed sloths, according to the number of claws on their front paws. Two-toed sloths are bigger and more aggressive and can be up to 80 centimetres long and nine kilograms in weight.
• Sloths are the world’s slowest mammals. They spend 70% of their time resting, and are only active for about two hours a day.
• Though they look a bit like monkeys, sloths are related to anteaters. They are found in Central and South America.
• They spend almost all their time hanging upside down in trees – they even give birth that way! They’re very clumsy on land and have to pull themselves along with their claws.
• Sloths have been falsely accused of sleeping to up to twenty hours a day when in fact they only sleep for about ten. However, even when they are awake, they don’t move very much.
• Because they don’t move about much, algae sometimes grows on sloths’ fur, which makes them appear green in colour, though their fur is actually brown. Moths sometimes live in their fur, too!
• Sloths eat leaves and fruit, and sometimes feed on plants other animals can’t eat, thanks to special bacteria in their multi-chambered stomachs.
• A sloth’s claws can be up to ten centimetres long, although they aren’t especially sharp. Sloths can and do scratch and bite if they feel threatened.
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You keep trudging onwards along the rough trail, tapping the ground in front of you with a stick in case there’s a snake under the leaf mould, when you spot a movement from the corner of your eye. You stop and look, it’s another tapir, or maybe the same one. You watch it for a moment, as it rootles about on the ground, before it occurs to you that this might be a good hunting opportunity. The tapir isn’t very big and looks quite docile. Plus, you’ve heard they’re very tasty! Eating some nutritious meat will be good for you. On the other hand, hunting’s not for the squeamish!
If you decide not to hunt the tapir, click here.
If you decide to hunt the animal, click here.
You hear a crashing sound high above you in the tree canopy. Looking up, you catch sight of movement in the trees. It’s a group of big, black and brown monkeys. There must be around ten of them, swinging through the trees! You can make out their long tails, which grab the branches like extra arms.
It occurs to you that these monkeys have similar needs to yours in terms of food and water. Perhaps you should follow them? On the other hand, you’ve heard that monkeys can be dangerous. They’ve stopped in the trees above you and you look up to see they’re watching you!
If you decide to try and follow the monkeys in search of food and water, click here.
If you decide to observe them while they’re here, but continue on your way, click here.
If you’re frightened of a monkey attack and run away, click here.
You should have trusted your instincts . . .
The splash you heard and the ri
pples you saw were caused by one of the biggest animals in the Amazon rainforest – a black caiman, the largest member of the alligator family. This is an especially big male, and it weighs around eight times as much as you do. These creatures often hunt animals such as capybara at the water’s edge. Although they usually hunt at night, this one is active now, and he’s spotted you as you stop to take a breather at the water’s edge. He takes his chance, lunging from the water, grabbing you and dragging you down underneath the surface to drown you.
Look on the bright side: at least it’s all over pretty quickly.
The end.
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Click here to find out more about black caiman.
Black Caiman
• Black caiman are big! They grow up to five metres long and can be 400 kilograms in weight.
• They are mainly nocturnal and their dark colouring helps to camouflage them at night.
• They prey on fish, and also on mammals at the water’s edge such as capybara (which is a bit like a giant guinea-pig and is the world’s biggest rodent).
• There have been a few human deaths caused by black caiman, but their habitat means that they don’t often come into contact with people.
• Humans hunted black caiman until they nearly died out. Nowadays, black caiman are protected, but some people still hunt them illegally for their leather and meat.
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You’re on the lookout for other creatures as you continue. Every so often there’s a high-pitched cry, a squawk, or a hoot! You’re almost getting used to the sounds of the rainforest now. But it’s a constant reminder that the place is full of life. As well as the tapirs you’ve just seen, there are probably countless other animals that you can’t see, camouflaged in the rainforest.
You’re passing underneath a tree when something makes you look up; you find yourself staring straight into a sad-eyed, upside-down face. The creature’s scruffy brown fur is tinged with green, and it hangs from the tree from its long, hairy arms and legs. You realise this creature is a sloth.
The creature has one of the cutest faces you’ve ever seen. But should you be alarmed? Are sloths dangerous?
If you decide sloths are harmless, click here.
If you decide to run away, click here.
You keep your eye on the water, looking for signs that gave you the unsettling feeling earlier on. But it doesn’t look as though there’s anything in the water here.
Feeling less worried about the river, you carry on along the trail, which becomes narrower and narrower. Eventually, it runs out. What now? You don’t want to go back into the forest. The river itself should be a lot easier to navigate and faster too. You could spend some time making a raft. Or you could just swim for it, letting the current carry you. After all, you’ve heard that someone swam the entire length of the Amazon!
If you decide to swim, click here.
If you decide to make a raft, click here.
You soon realise it’s going to be impossible to follow the monkeys. When they move, they move fast! But one of the monkeys is acting oddly. It starts to make an eerie howling cry, and suddenly comes crashing down from the trees towards you!
These monkeys are howler monkeys, which are not usually aggressive towards people. However, you have been extremely unlucky, because this particular howler monkey has been infected with rabies, possibly from a vampire bat, and the disease is making him behave aggressively. The monkey swings down from a tree in front of you, delivers a vicious bite, and then quickly swings off.
The bite is painful, but far worse, you are now infected with rabies. It takes a while, but because you’re far away from medical help, you die of the disease.
The end.
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Click here to find out more about howler monkeys and rabies.
Howler Monkeys
• Howler monkeys are the largest monkeys in the Americas. They can be up to a metre tall, with a tail the same length, and weigh up to about ten kilograms.
• They are also the loudest monkeys and one of the loudest animals in the world! Male howler monkeys have a special voice box, which they use to make a guttural cry that can be heard five kilometres away. They howl at dawn and dusk to warn other troops of howler monkeys that this is their territory. There are 15 different species of howler monkey.
• The monkeys tend to stay up in the trees and are active during the day. They eat leaves, fruit and flowers.
• Howler monkeys, like the many other species of monkey in the Amazon, are not usually dangerous to humans.
Rabies
Rabies is most commonly transmitted by bats, dogs, and monkeys. The disease has some horrible symptoms, and, if it’s not treated early, it’s fatal . . .
• A few weeks after being bitten you feel pain around the cut. During the next few days you start to feel anxious and sensitive to light and loud noises.
• Within another week or so, you find it increasingly difficult to swallow and become afraid of water. You become more and more paranoid and start to hallucinate.
• You find it very difficult to swallow saliva, and have periods of thrashing about, biting and spitting.
• Soon you are completely paralysed, fall into a coma and die.
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It is true that someone swam 5,268 kilometres along the Amazon! It was record-breaking marathon swimmer Martin Strel in 2007 but he probably wasn’t as weak, exhausted, and covered in insect bites as you are. Your swim starts off all right but as you move into the centre of the river the current is just too strong for you and you struggle for air in the churning water. You bash your head painfully on a piece of driftwood, swallow too much water, and drown.
Maybe it would have been better to build a raft after all.
The end.
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You’ve been lost in the rainforest for a while now but you’re no closer to finding help. It must make sense to find a river, because you know that’s where the people of the Amazon are most likely to live. You decide to make it your priority, and then make a raft and float downstream. Eventually, you’ll find help that way.
It’s not long before you hear the trickle of water – a stream! You follow it downstream as it widens, and flows into a bigger stream. You follow this until it joins a wide river.
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The sun beats down as you glide through the water. You’re very hot, but you’re making such good progress that you’re glad you didn’t bother stopping. You keep the sun off your skin with your clothes so you won’t get sunburnt.
After a while, you start to feel sick and faint, and you’re sweating more than ever. You become dizzy, and you realise you should stop and try and find some water to drink, but you’re just too tired and confused.
You’re suffering from heat stroke and it’s not long before you lose consciousness. With no one to help you, you don’t wake up again.
The end.
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Click here to find out more about heat stroke.
Heat Stroke
• Heat exhaustion, which can make you feel faint and sick, occurs when the body rises above its normal temperature of 37 degrees Celsius up to 40 degrees Celsius. If it’s left untreated, it can become heat stroke.
• At a body temperature of above 40 degrees, you have heat stroke, which is extremely serious (as you have just found out).
• The body overheats, dehydrates, its cells break down and its organs can no longer work properly.
• Symptoms include rapid, shallow breathing, confusion, heavy sweating that suddenly stops (because there’s no more water in the body), and loss of consciousness.
• If heat stroke isn’t treated, it can lead to organ failure, brain damage, and death.
• Treatmen
t involves cooling the patient and giving them plenty of water or sports drinks, however avoid anything with caffeine in it.
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You look around for things that might help you make a raft. Not far away there’s a stand of bamboo, one of the most useful plants in the rainforest. Because the stems are hollow, they float well. You manage to cut enough thick stems to make a raft. You lie them down side by side and tie them together securely with lengths of liana.
You push your raft into the water – it floats! Cautiously, you climb aboard. You’re still afloat! You find a long, stout stick to help you push off from the side and help you steer, then get back onto the raft and pole out into the middle of the river.
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Click here for tips on how to make a raft.
Making a Raft
• You can build a raft from anything that will float – logs, oil cans, even empty bottles and cans. Bamboo is a perfect raft-making material because it’s so buoyant. Balsa wood, which also grows in the Amazon, is another good material for making a raft because it’s extremely lightweight. Amazon tribespeople often make canoes out of balsa.
Lost... In the Jungle of Doom Page 4