The Maues marmoset, a species of monkey, wasn't discovered until recently. Its entire population lives within a few square miles in the Amazon rainforest. The only living animals you could be sure to see are the millions of insects creeping and crawling around in every layer of the rainforest. Scientists estimate that there are more than 50 million different species of invertebrates living in rainforests. You would probably only need a few hours of poking around in a rainforest to find an insect unknown to science.
Insects are often beautiful and always fascinating.
Leaf-cutter, or parasol ants, can rightfully be called the world's first farmers. They climb trees up to 100-feet tall and cut out small pieces of leaves. They then carry these fragments, weighing as much as 50 times their body weight, back to their homes. Sometimes they need to travel 200 feet, equal to an average human walking about 6 miles with 5,000 lbs. The forest floor is converted to a maze of busy highways full of these moving leaf fragments.