Photo credit: José Maria Fernández Díaz-Formentí
The rainforests of the Amazon are one of the most amazing and unique ecosystems on the planet -- the dense forests store between 90 and 140 billion tonnes of carbon and are home to one in 10 of every known species on earth.
As huge as these numbers seem, they largely underestimate the significance of the Amazon. More than any other place, the Amazon rainforest is home to untold numbers of undiscovered species.
Between 1999 and 2009 more than 1,400 new species were found in the Amazon—including this pale, eyeless ant with very large mandibles.