Amazon rainforest
Amazon rainforest

A significant part of the Amazon rainforest may have been flooded by the Caribbean Sea twice over 10 million years ago. This spurred the evolution of new species that live in the Amazon.
(Photo : Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The great Amazon is the largest rainforest on the planet, extending about 40 percent of the South American continent and including parts of the following different countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana that’s a department of France.

To submerge such a large expanse of rainforest would be a massive undertaking, but a new study by researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) suggested that that was exactly what happened — twice. According to a report from Science Magazine, a significant part of the rainforest may have been flooded by the Caribbean Sea twice over 10 million years ago. This spurred the evolution of new species that live in the Amazon. It has resulted in about 10…