[Straight Vermonter]

Now let me get this straight. It is said that the Amazonian rainforest contains plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world (save the rainforest). If the rainforest is only 2,000-3,000 years old is that enough time to evolve these unique species?

That part of the article was very unclear. The extent of the rainforest ebbs and flows with climactic conditions. The rainforest in Bolivia has been there for a few thousand years but the rainforest as a whole has been there for millions of years.

[Mike Darancette]

First Paragraph mentions: “A series of square, straight and ringlike ditches scattered throughout the Bolivian and Brazilian Amazon were there before the rainforest existed, a new study finds.”

This seems to indicate a larger area was previously not rainforest. The article is confusing.