Animals of the Amazon.

In the couple of weeks of being in the Amazon, we were lucky enough to encounter some incredible animals; whether it be in the wild or ones that had been rescued from being sold as Belen market trophies. Here are a few photo's I managed to get of some of my favourites...
The Sloth is such a beautiful creature and literally the cutest thing I have ever seen. They move unbelievably slow and constantly have a smile on their face which is too much when combined with their blinking kind eyes and tudor bobs. The Boah Constrictor was one of the most majestic creatures we got to see.  Its smooth flesh is so cold and liquidescent and it moves so gracefully but obviously maintains a terrifying  presence. They can grow up to 40 metres in the Amazon and are a real threat to boats travelling down river - a fact we learnt whilst doing so ourselves after hitting something huge and almost capsizing! Apparently they attack boats not knowing what they are and then once they're overturned have been known to savage the people inside. We were petrified..
There are so many species of monkeys in the Amazon that they cannot possibly be recorded and during our time there we were lucky to witness a few special ones. Each type is so unusual and different from another, some bearing long mustaches, some like tiny cats, some with multicoloured furs and insane calls. The one thing that pretty much all of them seem to have in common. and which makes them different and further evolved from the Asian or African monkeys, is their spiral tail (prehensile) which is basically a third arm to help them swing from the highest branches keeping them out of reach from their huge feline or reptilian enemies.
The Tucan has only ever existed in children's book illustrations for me up until now. I was so shocked and completely in awe when we got to see them up close. The vibrancy of the colours and the ridiculously large beak along with the noises it makes are insane.