The Amazon: all you need to know about the lungs of the planet - The Amazon rain forest is the heart and lungs of our planet. It is home to over 4,000 different species and 10% of the world's plants. But what else do you know about this amazing place? Click here to learn more about the world's biggest tropical forest.

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Tribes - Some indigenous tribes continue to live in their traditional way in the Amazonian region. Although rare, some have never had contact with modern society.

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Smallest primate in the world - The pygmy marmoset is an Amazonian native. It measures only 15 cm and weighs 130 grams.

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Species - There are 468 different species of reptiles and 517 different amphibians in the Amazon.

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Size - The Amazon is twice as big as Argentina. Its total area is over 2 million square miles.

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Age - Scientists estimate that the Amazon has been around for at least 55 million years.

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Trees - Lack of oxygen is not a problem! There are around 400,000 million trees in the Amazon.

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Ants - Polyergus, or Amazon ants, are not only very aggressive, but also enslave other ants.

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Swimmer - Slovenian long-distance swimmer Martin Strel swam the entire Amazon river. It took him two months.

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Oxygen - It is estimated that around 20% of the world's oxygen is produced in the Amazon rain forest, hence it being known as the planet's lungs.

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Deforestation - In the last 40 years, it is estimated that around 20% of the Amazon has been deforested.

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Myths - Legend says that the Amazon was a huge garden left by an old civilization that lived in the region around 3,000 years ago.

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Insects - The Amazon is home to over two million insects, with more than half of them living in the canopy.

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Sahara - According to a NASA study, wind takes sand from the Sahara Desert all the way to the Amazon, where it helps fertilize the forest's soil.

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Water deposit - The Amazon river releases five times the amount of water than any other river into the Atlantic.

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Amazon river - The river releases so much fresh water into the ocean that, in a 100-mile radius around its entry, the ocean is much less salty than usual.

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Amazon river - The river used to run in the opposite direction, which means that instead of flowing into the Atlantic, it flowed into the Pacific Ocean.

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Fungus - A group of students from Yale University, led by molecular biochemistry Scott Strobel, found an Amazonian fungus that can survive by feeding exclusively off plastic.

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What's in a name? - The name of the rain forest name comes from a group of women warriors in Greek mythology.

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Diversity - It is believed that one in every ten known species inhabits the Amazon forest.

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Symbiosis - There is a species of Amazonian butterflies that "drinks the tears" of turtles, as the eye fluid is rich in healthy minerals.

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Borders - Most of the forest is located in Brazil (60%), but also in Peru (13%), Colombia (10%), and smaller areas in Venezuela, Bolivia, Suriname, French Guyana, and Ecuador.

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Generous - In 2008, Norway donated $1 billion to help save the Amazon rain forest.

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Access - Iquitos, in Peru, is the largest city in the world that is inaccessible by road. Located in the heart of the Amazon, it is home to over 400,000 people.

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Another river? - 13,000 ft underground a slow-flowing aquifer flows roughly the same path as the Amazon. It is known as the Hamza River.

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Survivor - At the age of 17, Juliane Koepcke became the only survivor of a plane crash in the middle of the Amazon. All 91 other passengers died and she walked for 10 days before she was found.

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Protected - The Pirarucu is an Amazonian fish that has its scales covered in a armor that protects from piranha bites.

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Fruit - The Amazon forest has over 3,000 different fruits.

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