The selvas or equatorial forests are important for hardwood trees such as mahogany, rosewood, and rubber. The camauba palm tree yields wax, which is used for making shoe polish, furniture polish, lipstick, and candles. The bark of the cinchona tree yields quinine, a medicine used for treating malaria. Balsa, which is a lightweight wood, Brazil nuts, gum, resins, and dyes are other products obtained from selvas. Yerba mate is an important tree of the Eastern Highlands. The leaves of this tree are used to make a tea-like beverage. The Gran Chaco region grows quebracho (the woid’quebracho’ means ‘axe-breaker’), a hardwood tree which is a source of tannic acid used in leather tanning. The eastern slopes of the Andes and the confierous forests of Chile have softwood trees, which are important sources of Wood pulp for the paper industry.
Colourful birds, monkeys, insects and snakes such as the python and anaconda, reptiles such as crocodiles and alligators and fishes including the piranha are found in the Amazon forests.
