OUGD505: Studio Brief 2- Evaluation

Book cover design, although niche, is something I've really begun to enjoy doing. From the freakonomics book cover design last module to Unweaving the Rainbow for this one, it's enjoyable to produce design based on writing. There's a particular skill with book covers, not only is the intention to be attractive and drawn in audiences, but appeal to right kind of audience as well as visually represent/summarise the book. I believe for this brief I have achieved that and in a way if I hadn't been limited by the two colour print required for the brief I don't think I'd have done it quite as effectively. My initial ideas required rainbows of colours, gradients against a white background, these would've ended up look rather garish as a final piece and the limitations of this brief required me to think a little more conceptually.

Throughout this brief I was determined to screen print again, it's a technique I haven't tried in a while and not something I want to become rusty at. However I felt, as I explained previously in my design boards, that I wanted to learn a new skill alongside refreshing an old one. Foiling was the skill of choice, and I really enjoyed learning it, it's really easy once you know how but it's the knowing how that's the hard part and I did make some mistakes. Out of ten prints only one came out properly, the glue was too thick on some and the screen got bunged up, the white wouldn't print properly, but it was something I've learnt from and hope to apply to any future projects I choose to undertake.

If I had, had more time to dedicate to this brief I would've really loved to add a foiled finish onto the wrap around jacket, it just doesn't have the same impact as the poster for this reason. I think the cover looses something by not being reflective and it certainly doesn't display the concept as well as the poster does. Also I'm incredibly annoyed at myself for folding the cover slightly too short so it doesn't fit the book perfectly. I think I would've also liked to experiment with different fonts a bit more, although Bookman Old Style works well on the poster as the only font once you begin to introduce a lot more text in the full cover it all begins to blend into each other and takes the impact away from the title. I did experiment with some san serif choices for the body copy/quote/blurb but struggled to find anything that suited it well before I had to call it finished and move onto other projects.

OUGD505: Studio Brief 2- Final Designs

For the exhibition I wanted to produce a screen printed version of my book cover poster. Screen printing was something I hadn't done this year and I was determined to use it somewhere. I also felt that this was a perfect opportunity to increase my knowledge and learn another skill so on top of remembering how to screen print I also wanted to master the art of foiling. 

Out of 10 prints that I started only one came out 'perfectly' which is suitable. The foiling really adds an extra element to the final poster and makes the seemingly simple design pop with a subtle bit of detailing. I really like that the foiling hasn't perfectly transferred to the paper, I think if it had come out perfectly it wouldn't look anywhere near as good.

I had wanted to foil over the wrap around cover too, however time was against me and I chose instead to make the lines grey. The back cover was incredibly difficult to layout, there was considerable more text than I had first imagined and the unwoven pattern across both covers limited the space available, however I think, although crowded there's just enough empty space to not be insanely cluttered.

OUGD505: Studio Brief 2- Development

I order to add a human touch to the design I decided to hand draw the unweaving sound waves and then digitise them. The plan for the design would also required very clean text choices so I wanted the 'illustration' to balance that out.

For the font I chose bookman old style, I knew that a serif font would be the most appropriate choice. I needed something that was sophisticated and elegant but not too excluding in it's tone, it still needed to be friendly and accessible. 

Despite initially developing the design on white stock I decided to put the final arrangement on black stock with white in for the letter and silver foiling for the lines. I felt this represented the ideas of light waves, reflection and refraction and tied the book back to it's main theme- the unweaving of the rainbow and the understanding of the colours light is separated into.

The final developed designs look minimal but with enough detail to not be boring. For the wrap around cover I wanted the 'illustration' to flow seamlessly from front to back carrying the readers attention from one side to the other and drawing their eyes to the summary displayed on the books back cover.

OUGD505: Studio Brief 2- Initial Ideas

From reading the book and understanding its content I came up with a few different ideas. The first was based on a section of the book that discusses sound waves. Dawkins discusses the way that the brain decodes sound and how it can reconstruct it again in the form of imagination and imagery. 

'At one level it is all done by a pattern of air pressure waves, a pattern whose richness is first unwoven into sine waves in the ear and then rewoven together in the brain to reconstruct images and emotions.'

My second idea also came from the same chapter about the unweaving of sound waves, Dawkins shares a poem by Keats on the Nightingale's song. To represent something beautiful in a scientific way I decided to record or find footage of a Nightingales song and play it through recording equipment to get a visual representation of the song, hopefully through pitch rather than volume.

The third idea was based on two parts of the book. The first was the decoding of DNA mixed with the second, the prelude of the book. 'The set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here.' A strand of DNA would be made up from lots of little dots to represent the number of potential people who aren't here.

After some crits and feedback I decided to go with my first idea, it was felt that this was the strongest and most conceptual. It would also fit best with the constraints to colour that was required of the final design- my initial want was to make the cover very colourful to represent rainbow, but the two colour plus stock restrictions made me have to think outside of the box.

OUGD505: Study Task 5- Book Analysis

For studio brief 2 we have to produce a book cover for an academic or theoretical text. My book of choice is Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins.

Book analysis

Book Blurb- 'Keats accused Newton of destroying the poetry of the rainbow by explaining the origin of its colours, thus dispelling its mystery. In this illuminating and provocative book, Richard Dawkins argues that Keats could not have been more mistaken and shows how an understanding of science in fact inspires the human imagination and enhances our wonder of the world'

There are many romantics, poets included, who believe that science destroys the beauty of an object. Dawkins heavily disagrees and believes that knowledge does not taken any wonder or delight away from anything, and in fact only adds to the objects initial beauty.

In the book he describes how the unweaving of the rainbow and the understanding of the light spectrum has lead to so many discoveries. From the understanding of stars, to the unweaving of sound waves Dawkins picks apart various scientific theories to reveal their beauty, wonder and delight, linking science to poetry and using various segments of poems to support his ideas.

Science is beautiful and Dawkins writes in such an artistic and engaging way, he never diminishes the science or dumbs down the facts but explains them in such a way that you can't help but be fascinated.

'we are granted the opportunity to understand why our eyes are open, and why they see what they do, before they close forever.'

 

Existing Cover Research/Analysis

Light is a key theme for the book and for it's design with both designs on the right contain the spectrum. Strangely though other than referencing the spectrum none of them have direct images of rainbows, instead they, as previously mentioned reference light and the spectrum as a whole.They all have a sense of authority, using very formalised serif type and a no nonsense layout, however I don't think either of the designs on the left create a sense of wonder or beauty, however the top left design does it to some extent and the bottom left achieves it through photography. The bottom left design is so far the most suitable for the book's title and content, using the natural wonder the Aura Borealis which captures wonder, beauty, light and the universe it captures the combination of science and poetry which is what the book is so keen to bring together.

In order to produce a design that is most suitable for the book I could too rely on the joining together of science and poetry, however I feel that because this has already been done successfully my design should try and represent the book through another concept/route. 

OUGD503: Group Responsive- Evaluation

For this brief we greatly considered our product. Using design thinking we were able to solidly understand our problem and create a suitable solution that solved as many of the issues as possible. Although most of our time was spent designing and sketching, developing and arranging different things we spent an awful lot more time researching thoroughly. The idea of the game would only be feasible if we could fully understand the ecosystems we were trying to recreate and we did this within an inch of our lives. Of course the rain forest is so complex I could've done a lot more towards it but due to time limitations I had to give myself a cut off point. Though this may be true for all briefs; we did overrun with time keeping, every little thing took about three times as long to complete than estimated and this was true with all aspects of the brief, it really pushed us for time in the end. It simply wasn't fully considered all the things we had to produce and complete for our final submission, there was a lot more than we initially thought.

That being said the quality of the final game is fantastic though this is more due Beth rather than me, she would spend extensive amounts of time on the smallest details making sure they were perfect, I'm a more quick creator 'that'll do' kind of a person, but I think this made us complement each other well. I feel on my own part I could've and should've spent more time on my own sections but I also think if I had taken my time with it then we wouldn't have managed to complete it before the module submission. One thing that needs to be considered is that there were only two of us, we started with five and came up with an idea that suited the workload of five people and managed to complete it with two (there was some assistance from a third member, bits of research, the typeface, but these were part time things). I think this makes me proud more than anything, I am astounded at what we were able to achieve, we motivate each other well and Beth's persistence and dedication drove me to want to work harder.

If I could improve on this project I think I would've liked to do more; make some gifs, some animations, more ecosystems, more animals. Also I would love to have taken my time on what I did produce, although I'm happy with my illustrations and my designs I think more time would've improved them greatly.

OUGD503: Group Responsive D and AD Submission

The D and AD brief required us to submit up to eight design boards explaining our concept and solution. These were the submitted boards.

There was also an option to add in supporting material, we chose to add a couple of extra boards to explain a little more in depth where wee got the idea from, how our solution answered the problems set by the brief and how we chose the look of our design.

OUGD503: Group Responsive- Developments

After our research we began to consider the look of the game and how it would play and flow. We sketched out a few ideas for the look of the environments, the shop and the home screen.

Basic sketch of shop look/layout

Basic environment sketch showing levels/layers in the game

sketch showing interaction with page/notifications

Visuals wise I was tasked with designing the animals, home screen, shopping screens and iconography. 

For the animal illustrations I wanted to produce something that would stand out against a backdrop, and although I wanted the images to be simplified versions of the animals (to make it easier for later animation and potential programming if the game were ever to be developed) they still needed to have enough detail so players could recognise individual species.

I make them stand out strong by using bold, thick lines for the main body and thinner lines for the detail (so as not to swamp the image) I focused on illustrating key features and patterns so the species would differ from similar types of animal. I also chose to have each animal from a side view as this better suited the format and play of the game (with players scrolling sideways through 2D landscapes).

The icons had to be simple yet fun. Soft edges and rounded corners to make them less imposing. For the main page icons these were very simple, home buttons, move buttons, basic iconography. I made sure these all had rounded edges fitting in with the style of the rest of the game.

For certain icons such as the ones used in the shopping sections of the game I used circles as my base, not only to make buttons easy to tap but also to link back to a rounded eco system and the shape of the earth. 

The look of the shop was also based on a circular 'wheel' look, from icons to the way players will scroll through the species.

OUGD503: Group Responsive- Further Research

After another group meeting we decided that the best decision was to make a game. A downloadable mobile game where users would build up a 'second' earth ecosystem by ecosystem, like a much more scientific sims. Each ecosystem would be built from the ground up, starting with plants, moving onto insects then small herbivores etc. The currency in the game is 'pandas'- linking it back to WWF's strong visual, and pandas can be earned through either in game quests and challenges, which rewards a smaller amount or by doing good deeds, which will earn a much larger amount.

Good deeds include saving water, using public transport, a bike or walking, eating vegan or vegetarian food, switching off lights and electrical devices, recycling and many, many other options. The user would need to 'selfie' themselves performing these good deeds in order to claim the pandas for them. The selfies will be displayed on an individual instagram page which is created when you make an account with the game.

For the beginning of our research into the game we each split up to look at different types of ecosystems and how they could 'build up' through the levels. The ecosystem I'm in charge of researching is the Tropical Rainforest.

Tropical Rainforests

A tropical rainforest in split into four layers all varying in temperature and the amount of sunlight. These layers are the forest floor, the understory, the canopy and the emergent layer.

Plants Basic List:

At Forest Floor: Moss and low lying plants such as ferns and ginger, mushrooms and fungi. Hot areas very full of decay. This is where the forest gets most of it's nutrients from.

At understory layer: 

Zebra plants, Ferns, Philodendrons, orchids, heliconia and Prayer plants, carnivorous plants such as the slipper orchid.

At Canopy layer:

Rubber Tree, Cacao Tree, Sapodilla, strangling fig, Lianas, philodendron, Strychnos toxifera and rattan palms, orchids. 

At Emergent layer:

Kapok Tree, Brazil nut Tree, Mahogany.

Plants Selected Species:

Vermillion wax cap mushroom

Parachute Mushroom

Light blue Clitocybula azurea

The Kapok Tree

(species that rely on it: )

The Kapok can grow to 200ft tall and can grow up to 13ft per year. It's a host to a wild diversity of life creating homes for frogs, birds and a base for bromeliads. It's a deciduous plant shedding it's leaves annually and has light delicate seeds that are transmitted easily by the wind. The tree produces flowers that smell foul so as to attract bats- it's main pollinator. It is an endangered tree.

Bromeliad

(species that rely on it: Poison Arrow Frog)

The bromeliad relies on the Kapok tree to grow, it climbs using the Kapok as its base. Its waxy leaves and bowl shape catches and holds rainwater which then becomes a miniature eco system itself for various species including frogs who use the isolated pools to raise their tadpoles. Any creatures that die in the plants pools decompose and provide the plant with nutrients. The most famous bromeliad is the pineapple.

Water Hyacinths

(species that rely on it: Amazonian Manatee, Capybara)

Water Lilies

(species that rely on it: Amazonian Manatee, Capybara)

Brazil Nut Tree

(species that rely on it: golden tamarin, uakari monkey, macaw)

Mahogany

(Species that rely on it: two toed sloth, iguana)

Acai Tree

(spear nosed bat, toucan , macaw, golden tamarin, uakari monkey, two toed sloth, Brocket Deer, iguana)

Pupunha

(spear nosed bat, toucan , macaw, golden tamarin, uakari monkey, two toed sloth, Brocket Deer, iguana)

Banana

(spear nosed bat, toucan , macaw, golden tamarin, uakari monkey, two toed sloth, Brocket Deer, iguana

Rubber Tree

Heliconia 

(species that rely on it: iguana)

Invertebrates

The Bullet Ant, The Peanut Head Bug, Tailless Whip Spider (it eats frogs....), Titan Beetle (the worlds biggest beetle), The Giant Walking Stick, the Jewelled Caterpillar, the Long horned beetle, Praying Mantis (leafy and orchid), The Goliath Tarantula, Cicadas and the small green gold and brown scorpion.

Leaf Cutter Ant

(species that rely on it: giant anteater, all frogs, golden tamarin, uakari monkey, spear nosed bat, toucan, macaw, arowana, pacu, piranha, catfish, turnip tailed gecko, anole, river turtle)

Titan Beetle

(species that rely on it: golden tamarin, uakari monkey, spear nosed bat, toucan, macaw, arowana, pacu, piranha, catfish, turnip tailed gecko, anole, river turtle )

Blue Morpho Butterfly

(species that rely on it: all frogs, golden tamarin, uakari monkey, spear nosed bat, toucan, macaw, arowana, pacu, piranha, catfish, turnip tailed gecko, anole, river turtle)

Army Ants

(species that rely on it: all frogs, giant anteater, golden tamarin, uakari monkey, spear nosed bat, toucan, macaw, arowana, pacu, piranha, catfish, turnip tailed gecko, anole, river turtle)

Amazonian Giant Centipede

(species that rely on it: all frogs, golden tamarin, uakari monkey, spear nosed bat, toucan, macaw, arowana, pacu, piranha, catfish, turnip tailed gecko, anole, river turtle)

Amphibians

The Poison Dart Frog, the Harlequin Frog, Amazon Horned Frog, the blue dart frog, the glass frog.

Glass Frog

(species it relies on: all insects)

(species that rely on it: ocelot, uakari monkey, golden lion tamarin, toucan)

An insectivore the glass frog is translucent in order to better camouflage itself. 

Amazon Horned Toad

(species it relies on: all insects, anything small enough to fit in it's mouth)

(species that rely on it: ocelot, uakari monkey, golden lion tamarin, toucan)

An ambush predator that will eat anything smaller than it that passes by. Some toads have been known to be found dead from attempting to swallow to big prey with the animal still hanging out of it's mouth. 

Strawberry Dart Frog

(species it relies on: Bromeliad, all insects)

(species that rely on it: unknown, its tiny but poisonous, I don't think many things eat it)

This tiny poisonous frog uses the bromeliad pools created in the waxy leaves to raise it's tadpoles. The frog lays eggs on the ground and then transports the young tadpoles on it's back up the trees each to their own 'pool'. It can take days to transport one tadpole depending how high up the tree is.

Mission Golden-Eyed Tree Frog

(species it relies on: all insects)

(species that rely on it: ocelot, uakari monkey, golden lion tamarin, toucan)

Quite a large frog that can grow up to 12 cm in length and makes it's home in trees near running water. It, like most frogs is an insectivore.

Reptiles Basic List:

Anole Lizards, Caiman, Green Tree snake, Emerald Boa, Green Iguana, Yellow Spotted Side Necked Turtle, Yellow Footed Tortoise, Turnip Tailed Gekko , the anaconda

Reptiles Selected Species:

Black Caiman

(species it relies on: mostly capybaras and fish but really anything unfortunate enough to go into the or near the water)

A very large species of caiman, growing up to 16ft and feasting on anything unlucky enough to get close the caiman mainly hunts at night along the rivers and the rivers edge using it's superior senses to ambush prey. 

Anaconda

(species it relies on: anything equally stupid enough to go near the water. Just stay out of the water.)

Known as the worlds longest snake and an excellent swimmer the anaconda uses water as a way to hide from predators and prey alike. It's a constrictor and so crushes animals to kill them rather than using venom. It eats a wide range of prey from mammals to fish, even caiman when they're long enough. 

Green Iguana

(species it relies on:  Acai Tree, Pupunha, banana palm, the kapok tree )

(species that rely on it: Ocelot)

The green or common iguana is one of the larger reptiles, it can grow up to six feet long and is largely herbivorous feeding on flowers, leaves and fruit. They live in the canopy and rarely descend, only doing so to mate, lay eggs or change trees. 

Yellow Spotted River Turtle

(species it relies on: bladderwarts, hornworts, water lilies, water hyacinths, all insects)

(species that rely on it: caiman, giant otter, river dolphins)

These turtles live in the waters of the amazon basin and travel freely through flooded areas of the forest. They eat fruits, weeds, fish and small invertebrates. 

Banded Tree Anole

(species it relies on: all insects)

(species that rely on it: ocelot, uakari monkey, golden lion tamarin, toucan)

This insectivore spends all of it's life in the trees, generations at a time can exist without ever touching the ground.

Turnip Tailed Gecko 

(species it relies on: all insects)

(species that rely on it: ocelot, uakari monkey, golden lion tamarin, toucan)

A nocturnal species of lizard, this gecko relies heavily on it's camouflage to avid predators. They have flaps of skin to break up their outline but that can also be used as a parachute when trying to make a fast escape. 

Fish Basic List:

Electric eel, needle fish, cichlids, catfish, small stingray, vampire fish, arowana, piranha 

Fish Selected Species:

Catfish

(species it relies on: crabs, all insects, turnip tailed gecko, anole)

(species that rely on it: river dolphin, giant otter)

Cat fish are not fussy eaters, they will feast on aquatic plants, insects, fish, crabs, lizards; anything that sinks to the bottom of the water and is within their reach. They can grow to monstrous sizes and exist quite happily in the murky waters of the river. 

Piranha

(species it relies on: all insects, dead fish)

(species that rely on it: pink river dolphin, giant otter, caiman)

Despite all the myths piranha's are mostly scavengers feeding off of pieces of debris, insects, snails, fish fins and scales, and plants. They are a primary diet for many hunters in the amazon rivers such as caiman, dolphins or otters. The live in groups not for hunting purposes but to defend themselves from predators.

Pacu

(species it relies on: all insects, bladderwarts, hornworts, water lilies, water hyacinths )

(species that rely on it: giant otter, river dolphin)

A fish renown due to it's very human like teeth and a myth that it rips off testicles. The ball ripping is false, the teeth are real. They use these teeth to eat fruits and plant matter as well as aquatic insects and invertebrates. 

Arowana

(species it relies on: all insects, spear nosed bat, turnip tailed gecko, anole)

(species that rely on it: amazon river dolphin, giant river otter)

The arowana feeds off of anything that can be found on the surface of the water. It's hinge like trap door of a jaw skims the water taking in all prey it comes across. It mostly feeds on insects and small fish though remains of snakes, lizards and even bats have been found in arowana specimens. 

Birds Basic List:

The Harpy Eagle, Toucan, Macaws (red, green and blue), Jabiru Stork, King Vulture, Oropendolas and their hanging nests, Yellow headed Caracara,

Birds Selected Species:

Harpy Eagle

(species it relies on: Sloths, Tamarins, Uakari monkeys)

The harpy eagle is another species threatened due to habitat loss. It browses the canopy and emergent layers of the rainforest hunting prey such as monkeys and sloths.

Macaw

(species it relies on: all insects, brazil nut tree, Acai Tree, Pupunha, banana palm, the kapok tree)

A very intelligent and social species that lives in groups of 10-30 members. Their diets are omnivorous; they feed on fruits, nuts, insects, snails and even damp soil to counter chemicals found in fruit. There are seventeen species of macaw and many of these species are endangered due to illegal exportation for the pet market and a disappearing habitat. Hyacinth, red-fronted, and blue-throated macaws are seriously endangered. The glaucus macaw and Spix's macaw may already be extinct in the wild.

Toucan

(species it relies on: The kapok tree, Acai Tree, Pupunha, banana palm, all insects, turnip tailed gecko, anole)

The toucan, famous for it's very elongated beak which is used to pick fruits off of long, out of reach branches. As well as fruits it also eats insects, lizards and sometimes small birds and eggs. 

Mammals Basic List:

Tamandua (Anteater), Amazon Canopy Sloth, Saki Monkeys, Kinkajou, Capybara (the worlds biggest rodent), Jaguar, Tapir, Fishing Bats, Brocket Deer, Coati, Uakari Monkeys, The Giant Otter and Manatees.

Mammals Selected Species:

Capybara

(species it relies on: bladderwarts, hornworts, water lilies, water hyacinths)

(species that rely on it: Jaguar, Ocelot, Eagle and Caiman)

The world's largest rodent. It's a semi aquatic mammal living off of grasses, aquatic plants and young shoots. They are social creatures living in groups of 10-20 individuals, though the largest groups can get to about 100. They roam in home ranges averaging 10 hectares (25 acres) in high-density populations.

Brocket Deer

(species it relies on: Acai Tree, Pupunha, banana palm- fallen fruit, shoots and small plants)

(species that rely on it: Jaguar, ocelot)

The brown brocket is one of the smallest brocket deers and is found in non-flooded parts of the amazon. Their diet mainly consists of fruits, shoots and leaves.

Giant Otter

(species it relies on:  cichlids, piranha, catfish, arowana, crabs, snakes, caiman and anacondas)

The giant otter is an endangered species, it was originally hunted for it's pelt but now faces problems due to loss of habitat and food. As an apex predator the health of their species reflect the overall health of their eco system, so it doesn't look good. They're social animals living in groups of up to eight members and are incredibly inquisitive and bold, they will fight off predators much bigger than themselves through persistent annoyance. 

Amazon Pink River Dolphin
(species it relies on:  crustaceans, crabs, small turtles, catfish, shrimp, arowana and piranha)

Considered a vulnerable/endangered species doe to pollutions, over fishing and high boat traffic, the river dolphin is facing threats from all sides. They are intelligent and hunt in packs, mainly relying on echo location to find their prey and their way around due to the murky rivers and over crowded flooded areas. They use team work to catch their prey and have an interesting tactic of creating a wave up river banks, swimming in a line and forcing fish into the shallows and the banks of the river. They then eat the fish that attempt to leap away or that are sliding back down the bank.

Amazonian Manatee

(Species it relies on: aroids, grasses, bladderwarts, hornworts, water lilies, water hyacinths)
(Species that rely on it: Jaguar)

The manatee is a graceful is not pudgy water mammal. It's a herbivore and spends most of it's day grazing on grasses and aquatic plants. It's an endangered species with numbers dropping due to habitat loss and hunting. Many manatees also die when cut by the propellors of passing boats.

Golden Lion Tamarin

(species it relies on: bromeliads, mahogany tree, The kapok tree, Acai Tree, Pupunha, banana palm, all insects, turnip tailed gecko, anole)

The Golden Lion Tamarin is a critically endangered species of monkey. It's under threat due to loss of habitat meaning only small pockets can exist in certain small areas of disconnected forest. They are omnivorous surviving off insects, small lizards and fruits. 

The Two-Toed Sloth

(species it relies on: The kapok tree, Acai Tree, Pupunha, banana palm, mahogany)

(species that rely on it: Jaguar, Ocelot)

The Two-Toed sloth is the word's slowest mammal and spends almost all of it's life in the trees, except coming down to defecate, which is a big problem when you're so slow. Their grip is powerful, dead sloths have been found still hanging in the spot they died in. The sleep 15-20 hours a day and live on a diet of shoots, leaves and fruit.

Uakari Monkeys

(species it relies on: The kapok tree, Acai Tree, Pupunha, banana palm, brazil nut tree, all insects, turnip gecko, anole)

(species that rely on it: Harpy eagle, Ocelot, Jaguar)

The Uakari is a vulnerable species, and like most other primates, it is omnivorous. It's diet consists of fruits and insects, the will also forage on the forest floor for seeds and lizards. 

Greater Spear Nosed Bat

(Species it relies on: The kapok tree, Acai Tree, Pupunha, banana palm)

(species that rely on it: The Kapok Tree)

A nocturnal creature that mostly feeds on fruit, pollen and insects. This species of bat help the Kapok tree pollinate by carrying pollen on it's fur and drinking the nectar the tree provides. 

Giant Anteater

(species it relies on: believe it or not, ants)

(species that rely on it: Jaguar, although they do fight off jaguars with their massive claws)

Anteaters, badasses of the wilderness. They have claws so long and sharp that the walk on their knuckles to sheath them. Their thick coat protects them from ant bites from even bullet ants and they can eat more than 35,000 ants or termites in a day. They can fight off jaguars, have the lowest body temperature of all mammals and are generally awesome looking.

Jaguar

(species it relies on: anteaters, brocket deer, capybara, peccary, sloths)

An endangered and threatened animal, the jaguar is the top predator in the Amazon. It feeds on pretty much anything it can get it's claws on such as deer, peccary, crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, deer, sloths, tapirs, turtles, eggs, frogs and fish. The mostly hunt animals on the ground but can climb trees in pursue of prey. Female territories range from 25 to 40 km squared, male territories are twice the size.

Ocelot

(species it relies on: capybaras, monkeys, small mammals, birds and reptiles, including iguanas, tortoises and snakes, peccaries and brocket deer)

The ocelot is a smaller cat and is a success story of conservation efforts. It was considered endangered due to the high demand for it's fur but is now considered of no great concern with the species growing and thriving. It's mostly nocturnal and very territorial. Males occupy territories of 3.5 to 46 square km (1.4 to 17.8 miles), while females occupy smaller, non-overlapping territories of 0.8 to 15 square km (0.31 to 5.79 miles)