Amazing Amazon Kids:
How Tirio Children Use
Plants of the Amazon





Plants are very important to the lives of the Tirio Indians who live in the Amazon rain forest. Read what some Tirio Indian children say about how they use plants. Photos by Mark Plotkin.
 
 
 Nesese:  Here I am riding down a riverbank into the water while seated in the leaf of the murumuru palm!
  

Kadesha:  I am crushing the ãinekuä plant into the river with my Dad. This causes the fish to get confused and float on the surface where we can catch them for dinner!
 
 
 Amopuhdefuh:  I sometimes make cages for my pet parrot from the arrowroot plant.
 
 

 Lisha:  My favorite is the ãtu-huhä (which you call the Brazil nut) because it is delicious!
  

Kykwe:  I like the lipstick tree fruit so much I rub it on my dog to color him red.

Isaki:  I make rope from palm fiber.


Kadena:  My Dad made my bow from ãwurabaä wood, a type of fig tree.

Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin is president of The Amazon Conservation Team in Arlington, Virginia. When growing up in Louisiana, Mark was always chasing reptiles and amphibians. Now he has lots of pet snakes. "The world needs more explorers!" he says.
 
 

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