Rainforest Facts

Layers of the rainforestEMERGENT LAYER-The tallest trees are the emergents, towering as much as 200 feet above the forest floor with trunks that measure up to 16 feet around. Most of these trees are broad-leaved, hardwood evergreens. Sunlight is plentiful up here. Animals found are eagles, monkeys, bats and butterflies.CANOPY LAYER-This is the primary layer of the forest and forms a roof over the two remaining layers. Most canopy trees have smooth, oval leaves that come to a point. It's a maze of leaves and branches. Many animals live in this area since food is abundant. Those animals include: snakes, toucans and treefrogs.UNDERSTORY LAYER-Little sunshine reaches this area so the plants have to grow larger leaves to reach the sunlight. The plants in this area seldom grow to 12 feet. Many animals live here including jaguars, red-eyed tree frogs and leopards. There is a large concentration of insects here.FOREST FLOOR-It's very dark down here. Almost no plants grow in this area, as a result. Since hardly any sun reaches the forest floor things begin to decay quickly. A leaf that might take one year to decompose in a regular climate will disappear in 6 weeks. Giant anteaters live in this layer.

NativesThere are over 50,000,000 different tribes living in world rainforests. These people depend on the rainforest for survival, they need the resources for food and shelter. They gather fruit, which grow on trees in the rainforest. They need the animals that live in the rainforest to hunt and the fish that are found in streams and rivers, for fishing.

As we cut more and more trees and destroy more and more of the forests, we are also killing people. Many native tribes have been exterminated already because their governments failed to protect them from logging companies, the mining companies and the slash and burn farmers.

One of the well known tribes worldwide is the Yanomami Tribe-

One of the largest groups of Amerindian people in South America is the Yanomami. Their village life is centered around the yano, or communal house. The yano is a large, circular building constructed of vine and leaf thatch, which has a living space in the middle. This picture shows Yanomami men eating a meal.

Animals that live in the rainforest

•A typical four-square-mile patch of rainforest contains as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies.

•The animals that live there have adapted specifically to the environment

One animal that lives in the rainforest is a toucan. The birds bill is sharp and has saw-like edges. The bill is used to squash the many kinds of fruit and berries he eats. He may also use the saw-like edges to tear off parts of larger fruits. Also included in their diet are small birds and lizards. Toucans make their homes in holes in trees. They usually live in pairs or small flocks. White, glossy eggs are laid once a year and when they hatch, the new chicks have no down covering them. They are found in the Canopy Layer.

Climate and weatherThe tropical rainforest is a biome with a constant temperature and a high rainfall. The level of humidity and density of the vegetation give the ecosystem a unique water and nutrient cycle. Rainforests around the world are threatened by human expansion.

Characteristics and climate

A tropical rainforest biome is found in hot, humid environments in equatorial climates. They contain the most diverse range and highest volume of plant and animal life found anywhere on earth.

In general, tropical rainforests have hot and humid climates where it rains virtually everyday. The level of rainfall depends on the time of year. Temperatures vary through the year - but much less than the rainfall.

The graph shows average rainfall and temperature in Manaus, Brazil, in the Amazon rainforest. The rainy season is from December to May. Notice how much the rainfall varies over the year - the highest monthly rainfall is in March with over 300mm, while the lowest is in August with less than 50mm. Over the year, the temperature only varies by 2°C.

Random Facts•Covering less than 2 percent of the Earth's total surface area, the world's rainforests are home to 50 percent of the Earth's plants and animals.

•Rainforests are found on every continent across the Earth, except Antarctica.

•There are two major types of rainforest: temperate rainforests and tropical rainforests.

•The largest temperate rainforests are found on North America's Pacific Coast and stretch from Northern California up into Canada.

•Temperate rainforests used to exist on almost every continent in the world, but today only 50 percent — 75 million acres — of these forests remain worldwide.

•Rainforests act as the world's thermostat by regulating temperatures and weather patterns.

•One-fifth of the world's fresh water is found in the Amazon Basin.

•Rainforests provide many important products for people: timber, coffee, cocoa and many medicinal products, including those used in the treatment of cancer.

•Seventy percent of the plants identified by the U.S. National Cancer Institute as useful in the treatment of cancer are found only in rainforests.

•Before 1500 A.D., there were approximately 6 million indigenous people living in the Brazilian Amazon. But as the forests disappeared, so too did the people. In the early 1900s, there were less than 250,000 indigenous people living in the Amazon.

•Originally, 6 million square miles of tropical rainforest existed worldwide. But as a result of deforestation, only 2.4 million square miles remain.

•At the current rate of tropical forest loss, 5–10 percent of tropical rainforest species will be lost per decade.