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The Amazon Rising exhibit at Shedd features a high-ceilinged, naturally lit space with open-topped habitats all around so that visitors can experience the sounds of the Amazon.

Amazon Rising

From cacao to caimans, the Amazon is renowned for its dizzying array of plant and animal species. Annual flooding transforms the forest into a place where fishes swim among trees and find new opportunities for food and shelter.” The species that have evolved in this rich setting are interlinked in complex connections of predator and prey, plant and pollinator, producer and user. The whole ecosystem depends on the continued survival of each of its parts to remain healthy.

  • A white blotched river stingray's white spots help it blend in to the murky sand of its riverbed home.

    HIDDEN!

    Flat as the river bottom, huge freshwater rays are further camouflaged by their patterns.

  • A bue poison dart frog sits among tigs and leaves in its habitat, small but brilliantly blue against its green and brown surroundings.

    TOXIC!

    Tiny poison dart frogs don't have to hide. Their bright colors advertise that they're toxic.

  • A closeup picture of an arapaima's oblong, flat-topped head. The fish's jaw is very large and takes up the front third of its enormous face, which from lip to gill is about a foot long. It has small round eyes set near the flat top of its head behind its mouth, and its head ends in large gills for breathing in murky Amazon rivers.

    HUGE!

    Growing up to 10 feet long, the arapaima is one of the world's largest freshwater fishes. 

Seasons of the river

From cacao to caimans, the Amazon is renowned for its dizzying array of plant and animal species. Annual flooding transforms the forest into a place where fishes swim among trees and find new opportunities for food and shelter. The species that have evolved in this rich setting are interlinked in complex connections of predator and prey, plant and pollinator, producer and user. The whole ecosystem depends on the continued survival of each of its parts to remain healthy.

The green anaconda at Shedd is about 14 feet long, with a thickly muscled sinuous body designed for constricting its prey.

Amazon Rising audio guide

Hear how anacondas, arapaimas and electric eels are adapted to their rainforest homes.

Learn more

Tiger Ray

Tambaqui

Amazon Milk Frog

Brazilian teal

Caiman Lizard

Mata Mata Turtle

Arapaima

Red-bellied Piranha