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- Arboreal Habitat
- Spending most of life in trees, rather than on the ground.
- Example: Sloths and howler monkeys are arboreal — they rarely descend to the forest floor.
- Apex predator Biology
- A predator at the top of its food chain with no natural predators in its environment.
- Example: The jaguar is the apex predator of the Amazon; no other animal hunts it.
- Aposematism Biology
- The use of bright colours or bold markings to warn predators of toxic or dangerous qualities.
- Example: Poison dart frogs display aposematism: their vivid blue and red patterns signal lethal skin toxins.
- Ambush predator Behaviour
- A hunter that conceals itself and waits for prey to come within striking range, rather than pursuing it.
- Example: The jaguar is an ambush predator — it lies in wait on riverbanks and in low branches before striking.
- Biomass Biology
- The total mass of living organisms in a given area or category.
- Example: Leafcutter ants account for a significant share of the Amazon's animal biomass despite their tiny size.
- Crepuscular Behaviour
- Most active at twilight — the hour around dawn and dusk.
- Example: Tapirs are crepuscular, moving along riverbanks at dawn and dusk to avoid the midday heat.
- Canopy Habitat
- The upper layer of a forest, formed by the crowns of most of the tallest trees, roughly 30–45m above the ground in the Amazon.
- Example: Most of the Amazon's animal life lives in the canopy, where light, fruit and insects are abundant.
- Diurnal Behaviour
- Active mainly during daylight hours.
- Example: Scarlet macaws are diurnal — they fly, feed and socialise from dawn until dusk.
- Epiphyte Habitat
- A plant that grows on another plant for physical support, without harming it, and obtains its water and nutrients from the air and rain.
- Example: Bromeliads and orchids are epiphytes; they colonise canopy branches and create micro-habitats for frogs and insects.
- Endemic Habitat
- Found naturally nowhere else in the world; native and restricted to a particular place.
- Example: Many Amazon fish species are endemic to a single river basin.
- IUCN Red List Conservation
- The International Union for Conservation of Nature's inventory of the global conservation status of species, using categories from Least Concern to Extinct.
- Example: The Amazon river dolphin was reclassified to Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2018.
- Keystone species Conservation
- A species whose impact on its ecosystem is disproportionately large relative to its abundance.
- Example: The tapir is a keystone seed disperser — removing it would change the forest's plant composition.
- Nocturnal Behaviour
- Active mainly at night and resting during the day.
- Example: Black caimans are primarily nocturnal hunters, using darkness and stillness to ambush prey.
- Thermoregulation Biology
- The ability to maintain body temperature within a certain range; reptiles depend on the environment for this, mammals do it internally.
- Example: Black caimans thermoregulate by basking on riverbanks in the morning sun.
- Understory Habitat
- The layer of plants below the canopy and above the forest floor, typically 5–20m above the ground.
- Example: Tree frogs and many snakes inhabit the understory, hunting in the permanent shade.