Group items tagged

BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.

BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.

BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.   Explore the world's tribes The Americas Akuntsu BrazilArhuaco ColombiaAwá BrazilAyoreo ParaguayBrazilian Indians BrazilEnawene Nawe BrazilEnxet ParaguayGuarani BrazilIndians of Raposa–Serra do Sol BrazilInnu CanadaNukak ColombiaUncontacted Indians PeruWichí ArgentinaYanomami Brazil Africa Bushmen BotswanaMaasai KenyaMursi, Bodi & Konso EthiopiaNuba SudanOgiek KenyaPygmies Central Africa Asia & Australasia Aborigines AustraliaBatak PhilippinesDongria Kondh IndiaJarawa IndiaJummas BangladeshKhanty RussiaPalawan PhilippinesPapuan Tribes IndonesiaPenan MalaysiaSiberian Tribes RussiaWanniyala-Aetto Sri Lanka  

Of these varying Amer-Indian people living in the Amazon Rainforest, one of the largest groups is the Yanomami.  “Yano” translates to “communal house”.  Their village life is centered around the “yano”, or communal house.  The “yano” is a large, circular shelter constructed of vine and leaf thatch, which has a living space in the middle.   Village activity revolves around the main house which has multiple living quarters built in the center.  

It is estimated that nearly half of the world's estimated 10 million species of plants, animals, and microorganisms will be destroyed or severely threatened over the next quarter-century due to rainforest deforestation.

Commercial logging is the single largest cause of rainforest destruction, both directly and indirectly. Other activities destroying the rainforest, including clearing land for grazing animals and subsistence farming. The simple fact is that people are destroying the Amazon rainforest and the rest of the rainforests of the world because "they can't see the forest for the trees."

When a medicine man dies without passing his arts on to the next generation, the tribe and the world loses thousands of years of irreplaceable knowledge about medicinal plants.

On January 18, 2007, FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005. With this addition, Brazil has now overtaken the island of New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted tribes.[19] The province of Irian Jaya or West Papua in the island of New Guinea is home to an estimated 44 uncontacted tribal groups.[20]

From 40 to 75% of all species on Earth are indigenous to the rainforests.[1] It has been estimated that many millions of species of plants, insects, and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth", and the "world's largest pharmacy", because of the large number of natural medicines discovered there.[2] Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the worlds oxygen turn over, often misunderstood as oxygen production,[3] processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and through breathing to carbon dioxide.

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches).

by governments, which do not see these forest-dwellers as equal citizens.

The men decorate their bodies with colored clay and wear elaborate headdresses for ceremonies. 

Mbuti and Baka Pygmies live in the rainforests of Central Africa. 

 INITIATION

The initiation lasts several days in a hidden place in the depths of the forest. After the boys to be initiated have been undressed, washed, shaved and palm oil is rubbed on their body, they are led into a special hut.

Then, they undergo multiple rituals, some public (such as dances and processions), some secret, for about a week during which they eat, drink and sleep very little.

Because there are so many creatures living in the rainforest, there is a great deal of competition for food, sunlight and space. Some animals became very specialised. This means that they adapted to eating a specific plant or animal that few others eat. For example, parrots and toucans eat nuts, and developed big strong beaks to crack open the tough shells. Leafcutter ants climb tall trees and cut small pieces of leaves which they carry back to their nest.The leaf pieces are about 50 times their weight.The ants bury the leaf pieces, and the combination of the leaves and the ants' saliva encourages the growth of a fungus, which is the only food these ants eat. Sometimes there are relationships between animals and plants that benefit both. Some trees depend on animals to spread the seeds of their fruit to distant parts of the forest. Birds and mammals eat the fruits, and travel some distance before the seeds pass through their digestive systems in another part of the forest. One problem with specialisation is that if one species becomes extinct, the other is in danger too unless it can adapt in time. The dodo, a flightless bird of Mauritius, became extinct in 1681. Today there are just 13 calvaria trees left on the island, each over 300 years old, and nearly at the end of their life. Scientists realised that the seeds had to pass through a dodo's digestive system before they could germinate. It seemed that the tree species would also become extinct, but scientists tried domestic turkeys and have successfully managed to germinate some seeds.Many rainforest animals use camouflage to 'disappear' in the rainforest. Stick insects are perfect examples of this. There are some butterflies whose wings look like leaves. Camouflage is of course useful for predators too, so that they can catch prey that hasn't seen them. The Boa Constrictor is an example of a camouflaged predator. The South American three-toed sloth uses camouflage and amazing slowness to escape predators. Green algae grows in the sloth's fur, which helps camouflage it in the forest canopy. Sloths are among the slowest moving animals of all (inside too, as it takes about a month to digest food). They hang from branches in the canopy, and are so still that predators such as jaguars don't see them. Some animals are poisonous, and use bright colors to warn predators to leave them alone. There are several species of brightly colored poison arrow frogs. Native Central and South American tribes used to wipe the ends of their arrows onto the frog's skin to make their arrows deadly

There are about 1,000 indigenous tribes in the rainforests of the world.

Those nearest the equator, where the climate is very hot and wet all through the year, are evergreen because the trees can grow all the time and so are always in leaf

Cloud forests are yet another type of rainforest, so-called because they can be found high up mountains, where they are nearly always in cloud. The climate here is very cool but extremely wet.