New Amazon Species Discovered Every Other Day

The Brazilian Amazon is so full of life that, on average, explorers are finding a new species of plant or animal every other day.

That's the conclusion of a two-year review of newfound species conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and an environmental group based in Mamirauá, Brazil. These organizations tracked the number of new vertebrate and plant species reported from the Amazon in 2014 and 2015. They used only peer-reviewed journals, which means that any new species claims had to be supported by other researchers.

In total, the team collected credible reports of 381 newly described species, including 216 plants, 93 fish, 32 amphibians, 20 mammals, 19 reptiles, and one bird.

Finding this many new species in the Amazon isn't

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