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Fish Flow with the Floods in the Amazon The Wilderness Classroom Organization April 12, 2006 Update 8: Fish Flow with the Floods - Patrick Today we came across a man that had made a very lucky catch. A bunch of Tambaqui (tam-bah-KEE), were in the bottom of his canoe ready to be cleaned and prepared for eating. Finding these fish in the vast flooded forest takes a lot of knowledge and experience. Tambaqui feast throughout the flooded forest, then move with the receding waters back to the river channel. The high consumption of fruits and vegetables during the floods allow the Tambaqui to store 10 percent of its body weight as fat. The fish live off their fat in the low-water season when food becomes harder to find. The fresh fish the man caught will provide this family with lots of protein-rich meat. Floods are a difficult time to catch fish, which provide useful proteins and fat. We might have too much fatty food in the USA, but in Peru most of the riberenos' diet consists of starch, and carbohydrates. Knowing where and when the rubber tree's seed capsule mature and explode is good way to find Tambaqui fish. I only wish is was that easy. Some fish would be a nice addition to our diets too. Where do you get protein and fat in your diet? Update 8: Boat maker, boat maker, make me a boat - Anna In the flooded forest, canoes are made by hollowing out rainforest trees. A man named Manceo built one of our canoes, from a catawa tree in ten days. He had owned the finished canoe for only one month before selling it to us for 200 soles, or 60 dollars.
Manceo says that he has made too many canoes to count in the past 18 years. The longest that he made was about 35 feet long, and was used as a motor boat. That particular canoe took two men about one month to build. Manceo says that in the dry season, or the summer, it is much easier for him and his family to survive in the rainforest. In the dry season, the good canoe-quality trees are easier to find, and they are not water logged like in the rainy season. When the wood is easier to find, Manceo can make more canoes and therefore bring home more money to his family.
In the flooded forest, work opportunities change with the changing seasons. In the United States, many people work indoors; therefore, their work is not affected by the seasons. However, there are still many outdoor jobs in the United States that are affected by the weather. Think about the jobs that your family members have where you live. Do the changing seasons affect their work? How? Update 8: What Time is Dinner? - Anna When things are getting tough in the rainforest, we always know that we can count on a nice, stove-cooked meal when we get to camp each night.....or can we? As we canoe through the flooded forest, we might not see dry land for several days at a time. This situation might make cooking our dinners quite interesting and a bit difficult. Where and how do we cook? Another issue that might add to the complications of cooking at night are our flying friends, the mosquitoes. When the sun goes down, the mosquitoes come out in full force. Swarms of mosquitoes buzzing around our heads can be rather uncomfortable when we are trying to cook. I think I'd rather be in the safety of my mosquito netted hammock! So no matter what, we have to cook our food. The question is how do we eat when there is no dry land and swarms of mosquitoes eating us for dinner? We would love to hear any suggestions you might have as to how to get through this dilemma. Liquid error: Template not found languages/english/includes/_wc.liquid Track the adventurers at wildernessclassroom.com News index | RSS | News Feed Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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