Hognose Snake - Uruguay

The Rio De La Plata is an estuary made from the confluence of three rivers: the Paraná, the Paraguay, and the Uruguay. Sebastion Cabot began a detailed study of the area in 1526. The few silver trinkets he obtained in barter with the Guarani people helped to establish the name of the estuary as the “River Of Silver.”

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Lystrophis dorbignyi - The South American hognose snake has a distinctive upturned snout used for burrowing into leaf litter as a means of escape or when searching for food. The South American hognose snake is a timid snake. It relies on two defensive traits when threatened; it will rear up and hiss while spreading a false hood to resemble a cobra or it may play dead by rolling over on its back. The color of the hognosed snake is similar to the poisonous coral snake, serving as another form of protection.

Strange-tailed Tyrant - Uruguay

Alectrurus risora - The male strange-tailed tyrant has a pair of extremely long tail-streamers as an addition to its long tail. This feature serves no other purpose than to attract females, also having long tails, but lack the additional tail-streamer feathers. Females average 20 centimeters in length with males averaging 30 centimeters. Some strange-tailed tyrant populations migrant seasonally between Paraguay and Argentina, but most are in permanent resident throughout their range.

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The drainage basin for the Rio de la Plata is 3,170,000 square kilometers, one of the largest in the world. The estuary forms the border between Argentina and Uruguay; each country’s respective capital is located along the shores. The gap formed by the mouth of the Rio de la Plata is large enough for some geographers to consider it a gulf on the Atlantic Ocean. The mouth of the Rio de la Plata is the largest of any river in the world; it is 220 kilometers wide and easily surpasses the Amazon River.