Yasuni National Park: Amazon Rainforest

The Yasuni National Park is a nature preserve in the country of Ecuador that houses a section of the Amazon rainforest (Cite). It is about 3,793 square miles large and is one of the most biodiverse locations in the world. It is home to hundreds of different species of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and many other types of animals, hundreds of thousands of diverse plant species, and multiple tribes living in voluntary isolation. It is also estimated that there are more tree, shrub and liana species in a single hectare of Yasuni National Park than there is anywhere else in the world, which has made the park not only a wilderness hotspot, but a research hotspot as well (Scientist Identify 2010). However, Yasuni National Park is also home to Ecuador’s
Researches have been and still are studying its ecological properties to understand how and why the park became the hotspot it is today. Preserving the park has been very highly prioritized until the recent discovery of oil, as it has allowed scientist to understand more about how the natural world works and apply their knowledge to improve the living conditions for humans and animals alike while finding new ways to sustain our earth (Blitz 2015). Yasuni National park is not only home to millions of plants and animals that scientists can learn from, but multiple indigenous tribes that have thrived off of said species and the Yasuni land for thousands of years. The Waorani tribe, for example, have displayed knowledge of plant and animal seasonal behavior and have adjusted their lifestyle accordingly. The Waoranis’ hunter-gatherer knowledge has allowed scientist to better understand monkey migratory patterns and diet, as well as plant nutrient cycling (Indigenous People 2010). These plants, animals, and tribes are not only a part of a beautiful reserve that showcases the wonders of nature, but have allowed scientists to understand agricultural patterns and multiple animal behavior, even some related species outside of Yasuni, more