AMAZING RAINFOREST BY BRENNA

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Russel. Russel. Sqeuak! Chirp! Chirp! Shooo! There is a place where leopards leap from branch to branch, army ants slip through the leaves looking for lunch, and Oclats prowl the land. Monkeys swing from vine to vine, and birds soar and butterfly’s flutter. Frogs zoom from tree to tree. It can rain up to 30 feet a year. What is this place? A rainforest! The rainforest’s of this world only takes up 6% of the world but contains half of the worlds food and animals.

WHAT IS A RAINFOREST?

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There are 4 layers of the rainforest. The first is like the king of the rainforest, it is the tallest layer, it’s called the Emergent layer. Next down is the canopy than the understory than the forest floor. On the forest floor it’s very dark. The dirt is rich and wet. There are not many plants. Dead leaves scatter the ground while army ants (which eat meat) stomp in long lines. A snake slithers by, not making a sound. Small and big cats sneak in the shadows waiting and watching. Above in the understory, a small

LAYERS OF THE RAINFOREST.

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beaded eyed monkey swings on a dark green vine chattering happily. He swung and swung until he climbed up one of the vines and reached the canopy. The canopy is full of food and life. Birds fly and sloths sleep.The monkey reaches and grabs a ba-nana then slips off. A Toucan fly’s up and leaves the canopy. There are only a few trees taller than the canopy up hear. This is the Emergent layer. Only animals that can climb or fly can get up hear. Butterfly’s scat-ter enjoying the soft breeze and the warm sun. They don’t get much sun because it is usually raining. Birds that are flying make rainbows with their elegant feathers. These are the four amazing layers of the amazing rainforest.

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The rainforest is truly an amazing place. Plants are anything but scarce. There are big and small, long and short and pink and red plants scattering the forest. Did you know some plants eat bugs? Did you know that the giant Rafflesia is very big and heavy and that it smells like rotten meat? My favorite plant is the Sausage Tree. No! The Sausage Tree does not really grow sausages. But it does look like it! At night the Sausage Tree grows

RAINFOREST PLANTS

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beautiful and delicate red flowers hanging off of long vines. They are there so it is easy for bats and butterfly’s to get to so they can pollinate the plants. When a bat or a butterfly pollinates a flower from the tree it makes it so in the morning when the flower dies (the flowers live for one night) the seeds live. When the seeds fall off, a Sausage Tree will grow in it’s place.

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There are many animals in the rainforest. Today I’m writ-ing about my favorite one. Colorful and smart. This amazing animal lives far up in the canopy. Using it’s strong beak as scissors to cut fruit off trees. This ani-mal is the exicting and graceful Toucan! Toucans not only live in the canopy but also live far up in the tall and wide branches of the Emergent layer! Toucans have many hungry predators that are always right on their

4 ANIMALS OF THE RAINFOREST

tails. That means they are prey. Some of the predators are the Forest Eagles, the hawks, and the owls. These next animals that don’t go after the Toucan but instead go after the Toucans nests. The boas, the jaguars, and margay. Get ready to be amazed! There are 40 different kinds of tou-cans in the world! Another cool thing about these birds is that they can croak like frogs! Toucans really are amazing animals!

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The rainforest may be filled with many types of plants and ani-mals, some that are still unknown. There is one important ani-mal I have not talked about. That animal has two legs, two feet, two arms, and two hands.They are the human tribes that live in many of Earth’s rain forests! These tribes have lived in the rain-forest for a very long time so they know how to survive and live happily. The Mbuti people live deep in the Ituri rainforest of Congo Region of Africa. They are hunter-gathers. That means they get most of there food from hunting and from finding

PEOPLE OF THE RAINFOREST

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Many people make their homes in the rainforest.

plants. To hunt, the Mbuti use spears, and bows and arrows. They will also build nets out of vines to trap the animals. They will usually hunt things like antelopes, forest hogs, buffalo, elephants, monkeys, and many other animals. The Mbuti almost waste nothing of their kill. They will use the meat for food, the skin and fur for clothes, and the bones as tools. A long time ago, the Mbuti would only kill and find what they needed in there tribe but recently they have started to also trade with people who live at the edge of the rainforest. Another tribe is the Yano-mami. They are hunter-gardeners. They tend small gardens in the great Amazon rainforest. They usually plant things such as bananas, yams, and sweet potatoes. They will also grow plantains which are kind of like hard and large bananas. To cook the plantains they roast them on coals or boil them in big pots. If they’re not in the mood to grow their crops they will find and eat nuts, mushrooms, and honey. They will also hunt birds and catch frogs and collect slimy and crunchy bugs to eat. For shelter the Yanomami live in huge houses made out of tree branches and palm leaves. These houses are built in a large circle. In the evening families and friends come together and tell story’s about jaguars the most feared animal in the rainforest. For many long centuries, the Yanomami people lived as their ancestors had lived. They had very little contact with people from the outside world. But sadly very recently all that changed. In the 1980’s gold was discovered along the border between Brazil and Vene-zuela. This is the area where the Yanomami have lived all this time. With thousands of people from the outside world rushing in for the gold it really has been hard for all the Yanomami people. The gold miners have made life hard for the Yanomami by cutting down lots of trees and by bringing in lots of noisy tools which are scaring away all the animals. Sadly they have also introduced new diseases such as malaria, flu, and measles. Governments of South American countries are happily trying to

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The people of the rainforest are very decorative.

protect the Yanomami people and all their land. Just like the Mbuti people the Yanomami have been in peace with the rainforest for a long time. They believe that nature creates everything, and that people should respect and love the forest. Rainforest people like the Yanomami and the Mbuti have many things to teach people outside the forest. They could share their knowledge about which kinds of things are good to eat and which are poi-sonous, and which are good for medicine. But most importantly the people who live in the rainforest would really be kind if they told us how to get all are resources without destroying anything. Would you like to live in the rainforest?

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