10 Really Bizarre And Peculiar Things Found in the Jungle

The dense and often impenetrable jungles of the world hold many strange and bizarre secrets. Jungles are some of the richest habitats in the world, with some of the most interesting wildlife diversity on Earth. Every year there are numerous new species found. In the lands dominated by wild overgrowth where civilization ceases, there are unknown discoveries yet to be made, mysteries to be unraveled, and long lost secrets waiting to be revealed. Here are 10 such wonders found deep within these largely unexplored areas of the world.

Giant Parasitic Flowers

Despite being the largest flower on Earth, this giant is more likely to be smelled before it is seen. Known as the ‘Corpse Flower’ or the ‘Devil’s Betelnut Box’, the Rafflesia Arnoldii grows up to one meter across and releases an awful pungent odour like decaying flesh. The Corpse Flower is eerie and unusual for more than its smell. The flower exists only as a parasite. Instead of having leaves, stems, or roots, the flower embeds thread like fibres into its host to steal nutrients and water. The first botanical encounter of this flower was by Louis Auguste Deschamps, a French explorer who collected a specimen in 1797, only to have his notes confiscated and lost for over 150 years. Although the flower itself was rediscovered before Deschamps notes, the flower remains rare and elusive. Its smell is repulsive to most life but is fortunately attractive to flies and other pollinating insects who spread the flower and its namesake smell throughout the jungles of Malaysia and Indonesia.

A City From The Stars

Clever teenager William Gadoury of Quebec, Canada discovered a forgotten Mayan city in the Yucatan jungle all the way from his home using a mixture of satellite imagery, star maps, and an astute observation about the locations of Mayan cities. Gadoury realized that the Mayan obsession with stargazing was not just limited to the creation of calendars based on the movements of the stars. In fact, the location of Mayan cities directly mirrors their constellations. When he looked at the satellite photos of the area he suspected a city might be hidden, Gadoury found sharp geometric shapes and lines – features not usually found in nature on this scale, which could be ancient streets and even a pyramid, now buried under the jungle canopy. As the one to find the city, Gadoury has more than bragging rights as a digital explorer – he named the city K’aak Chi as well, which means Mouth of Fire.

Mystical Boiling Rivers

Folklore from deep within the Peruvian Amazon tells of a river whose boiling waters emanate a constant cloud of vapor, enriching the surrounding vegetation and told to have healing properties unless you are unfortunate enough to fall in. The mystical waters are still used as a sanctuary and healing retreat alongside other traditional spiritual Amazonian remedies like the hallucinogenic Ayahuasca. The hot springs of Mayantuyacu have only recently been studied thoroughly by Southern Methodist University Ph.D. student Andrés Ruzo for the first time. Though the boiling waters' origin is still a mystery, Ruzo believes that they must rise from within the Earth after being heated by geothermal features deep below.

Congo’s Carbon Sink

All trees soak up Carbon Dioxide during photosynthesis. This is especially true of the large and fast-growing trees of the tropical rainforests, where vegetation is much denser. Such dense forests are often called ‘Carbon Sinks’ where fallen trees from thousands of years of jungle growth are locked under the ground and their carbon along with them. In the Congo’s Cuvette Central in the Congolese Basin lies a prime example of such a sink, hidden under the dense overgrowth. Only recently discovered, the area surrounded by rivers to the North, East, and West is a dense forest with two-meter thick semi-decomposed peat soil. This carbon sink is one of the largest in the world, locked in by its 2000mm yearly rainfall. Protecting forests like these is essential in stopping the release of immense quantities of carbon stores, long since buried.

The Lion Rock

Near the middle of Sri Lanka is a massive ancient stone fortress whose gateway was once protected by a huge carved lion. Passing through the gateway, one walks a winding path up to a plateau. Named after its intimidating Lion guardian, Sigiriya or Lion Rock is now a World Heritage Site, made famous by its remarkable sculptures, decorations, and gardens. Once the palace of 5th century King Kasyapa, and later a Buddhist monastery, the grounds of the palace remain as an unmatched example of urban planning of the first millennium. The rock itself was once wrapped entirely with frescoes and royal decorations and surrounded by land completely transformed into gardens and parks. From under the canopy, one might miss the lost artwork of the Lion Rock and its sprawling gardens. From atop the plateau, the view reveals extensive care and diligence to bring order to the chaotic jungle.

Costa Rica’s Stone Spheres

Dotted all across the Disquis Delta landscape of Costa Rica are nearly perfect stone balls. In an effort to cultivate new farmlands in the wake of failed plantations, the United Fruit Company began to uncover the spheres. As they slashed and burned away the forests, these stone spheres would remain, some as large as two meters diameter in size. Out of frustration more than curiosity, the workmen and farmers would resort to exploding the spheres with dynamite in order to remove them. They are now considered historical artifacts and many of these rashly removed spheres have been reassembled. The mystery of their making still remains. The ancient Costa Ricans left behind great works of sculpture and jewelry, but how they managed to move these spheres over fifty kilometers to their destination leaves one puzzled and asking for just one more discovery.