Brazilian Jungle

The bounty of the jungle jumps out at your ears as you pass by enormous trees as tall as a city apartment building and twice as filled with living things. Some of the sounds are familiar and easy to identify, but others, perhaps part of a big mix of critters, just seem so odd or even unnatural. It's almost too much to bear, the overwhelming symphony of the forest, that you decide to sit down and just let yourself absorb all the sounds as one, rather than try to identify them individually. Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. Brazil occupies a large area along the eastern coast of South America and includes much of the continent's interior. Brazil has a dense and complex system of rivers, one of the world's most extensive, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic. Brazil's large territory comprises different ecosystems, such as the Amazon Rainforest, recognized as having the greatest biological diversity in the world. The rich wildlife of Brazil reflects the variety of natural habitats. Scientists estimate that the total number of plant and animal species in Brazil could approach four million. Larger mammals include pumas, jaguars, ocelots, rare bush dogs, and foxes; peccaries, tapirs, anteaters, sloths, opossums, and armadillos are abundant. Deer are plentiful in the south, and many species of New World monkeys are found in the northern rain forests.