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Amazing Events in Pictures 2

Romain Mattei photographed what looks like a monkey massaging a stray cat on a pavement in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. However, the cheeky monkey was doing the moggy a favour by searching for fleas.



A lesser black-backed gull takes off with a duckling in its beak at the duck pond in Dublin's Herbert Park, Ireland



A group of little owls at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Modena, Italy



Light artist Darren Pearson from California has created the 12 signs of the zodiac using a torch and a camera set on long exposure.



During last month's solar storm a group of students called "Earth to Sky" from Bishop, California, launched a helium balloon which lifted Camilla the rubber chicken into space to study solar radiation...



Camilla reached the stratosphere with a payload of radiation sensors, cameras, GPS trackers, a thermometer, insects and sunflower seeds. The flight took two and a half hours and reached an altitude of approximately 40 km (25 miles) before the balloon burst parachuting Camilla's spacecraft safely back to earth.



A snowboarder glides on to the water as he tries to cross a 20 metre long pool of water at the foot of a ski slope at the Bobrovy Log ski resort near Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk



Spanish bullfighter David Fandila 'El Fandi' jumps into the 'callejon' (the space between inner and outer barriers) during a bullfight at the Maestranza bullring in Seville, southern Spain



A voter stands in a polling booth with his dog during the first round of the French elections in Henin-Beaumont, northern France


A Cornish rex cat touches noses with a referee during an international feline beauty competition in Bucharest, Romania



Gyuto Monks of Tibet pose with a wax figure of Nelson Mandela during a visit to Madame Tussaud's in Sydney



Visitors walk through the tulip and daffodil fields during the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near La Conner, Washington



Indian farmers carry cucumbers to sell at a market, in Phaphamau village on the outskirts of Allahabad, India



A participant takes part in a soap bubble festival in the Palace Square in St.Petersburg



Caydee Denney and John Coughlin of the United States perform during the gala exhibition at the ISU World Team Trophy figure skating in Tokyo



A Japan Airlines Boeing 787 takes off from Logan International Airport in Boston on its inaugural, non-stop flight from Boston to Tokyo



An aircraft flies past the Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple in Pathum Thani province, north of Bangkok



The leaves of a may apple growing in Moreland Hills, Ohio, on Earth Day



A worker checks the power lines in Haikou, south China's Hainan province

Amazing Amazon

The Amazon is the greatest river in the world by so many measures; the volume of water it carries to the sea (approximately 20% of all the freshwater discharge into the oceans), the area of land that drains into it, and its length and width. It is one of the longest rivers in the world and, depending upon who you talk to, is anywhere between 6,259km/3,903mi and 6,712km/4,195mi long.

For the last century the length of the Amazon and the Nile Rivers have been in a tight battle for title of world's longest river. The exact length of the two rivers varies over time and reputable sources disagree as to their actual length. The Nile River in Africa is reported to be anywhere from at 5,499km/3,437mi to 6,690km/4,180mi long. But there is no question as to which of the two great rivers carries the greater volume of water - the Amazon River.

At its widest point the Amazon River can be 11km/6.8 mi wide during the dry season. The area covered by the Amazon River and its tributaries more than triples over the course of a year. In an average dry season 110,000 square km of land are water-covered, while in the wet season the flooded area of the Amazon Basin rises to 350,000 square km. When the flood plains and the Amazon River Basin flood during the rainy season the Amazon River can be up to 40km/24.8 mi wide. Where the Amazon opens at its estuary the river is over 325km/202 mi wide!

Because the Amazon drains the entire Northern half of the South American continent (approx. 40% landmass), including all the torrential tropical rains that deluge the rainforests, it carries an enormous amount of water. The mouth of the Amazon River, where it meets the sea, is so wide and deep that ocean-going ships have navigated its waters and traveled as far inland as two-thirds the way up the entire length of the river.

So, how did the Amazon get to be so big? The first reason has to do with its location - right at the equator. Around the "belt line" of the earth lies a warm, tropical zone where over 400 in/1016cm of rain fall every year. That averages out to more than an inch (3cm) of rain, everyday! A lot of water falls onto the land surrounding the river, what is called the "Amazon River drainage basin". A good way to understand what a drainage basin is to think of the whole northern half of the continent of South America as a shallow dish, or saucer. Whenever rain falls and lands anywhere in the river basin it all runs into the lowest place in the pan, which happens to be the Amazon River. The sheer volume of rain in the Amazon jungle, as well as the slope of the surrounding land, combine to create the enormous river known as the Amazon.

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