News •
High temperatures, heavy rainfall with small seasonal differences, high humidity, and high average cloud cover provide climatic characteristics of an equatorial lowland. Temperatures are remarkably uniform. At Georgetown the daily temperature varies from the mid-70s to the mid-80s °F (mid-20s to the upper 20s °C). The constant heat and high humidity are mitigated near the coast by the trade winds.
Rainfall derives mainly from the movement of the intertropical front, or doldrums. It is heavy everywhere on the plateau and the coast. The annual average at Georgetown is about 90 inches (2,290 mm), and on the interior Rupununi Savanna it is about 70 inches (1,800 mm). On the coast a long wet season, from April to August, and a short wet season, from December to early February, are sufficiently well marked on the average, but in the southern savannas the short wet season does not occur. Total annual rainfall is variable, and seasonal drought can occur in July and August when the southeast trade winds parallel the coast. Variations in Guyana’s climatic patterns have a determining effect on tropical crop production.
Plant and animal life
Many plants of the coast, including mangroves and various saltwater grasses, grow in shallow brackish water and help to protect or extend the land. The wet savanna behind the coast has coarse tufted grasses and a wide scattering of palms, notably the coconut, the truli, and the manicole. High rainforest, or selva, covers about three-fourths of the land area and is of extraordinary variety and magnificence. Prominent trees include the greenheart and the wallaba on the sandy soils of the northern edge, the giant mora and the crabwood on swampy sites, the balata and other latex producers, and many species such as the siruaballi and the hubaballi that yield handsome cabinet woods. The interior savanna is mostly open grassland, with much bare rock, many termite hills, and clumps of ita palm.
All forms of animal life are immensely varied and abundant, though few, apart from birds and insects, are normally visible. The tapir is the country’s largest land mammal, and the jaguar is the largest and fiercest of the cats, which also include the ocelot; monkeys and deer are the most common animals. Among the more exotic species are the sloth, the great anteater, the capybara (bush pig), and the armadillo. Birds include the vulture, the kiskadee, the blue sacki, the hummingbird, the kingfisher, and the scarlet ibis of the coast and lower rivers and the macaw, the tinamou, the bell-bird, and the cock-of-the-rock in the forest and savanna. The caiman (a reptile similar to the alligator) is the most common of the larger freshwater creatures. The giant anaconda, or water boa, is the largest of the many kinds of snakes, and the bushmaster is the most vicious. Lizards are numerous and include the iguana in the lower rivers. Sharks and stingrays are found offshore. The snapper and the grouper are common ocean fish, and shrimp abounds in the muddy currents off the coast. The manatee is also common in Guyanese waters. Among the freshwater fish is the huge piraucu, which attains lengths up to 14 feet (430 cm).