The Tucanuçu (Ramphastus toco) of the tucan family is the symbol of Brazil.

The onça pintada, the jaguar, is one of the most feared mammals in the great forest. But this great cat lives practically all over Brazil.

There are 18 known species of piranha in Brazil.

Large colored bracts enclose the small green flowers of the Heliconia wagneriana, one of the hundreds of plant growing in the Amazon forest.

Flowers are acharacteristic feature of the great fores thanks to the particularly humid microclimate.

Sucuri in portuguese, the anaconda is a snake that grows to 33 feet in leght. Greyish-green in color with symmetrical patches and a yellow belly, it lives in the water and feeds on fish, birds, mammals and even crocodiles. Anacondas, as with all constricting snakes, kill their prey by asphyxiating them. When the prey exhales, the snake constricts, not allowing the animal to inhale, thereby causing it to die of lack of oxygen*.

^{* Contributed by Jonathan Balcombe, Ph.D. Associate Director for Education Animal Research Issues The Humane Society of the United States}

Arara and parrots are both symbols of Brazil. These animals live mostly in the pluvial Amazon Basinand in Mata Atlantica

An ema, (Rhea americana) or emu, the Americna ostrich, also lives in Brazil.

The ajaja ajaja is a type of flamingo that lives ins swampy areas (the Pantanal).

The jacaré, the caimán, is a distinctive presence in the Pantanal although it also lives in the Amazon.

The nocturnal monkey is found in cane breakes and feeds on their leaves.