Tropical Rainforest

  • located near equator between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
  • dense, warm, wet forests
  • many species of evergreen trees
  • covers less than 6% of Earth's land surface
  • produces 40% of Earth's oxygen
Rainfall

average 1/8 inch per day

80-400 inches per year
Temperature average 77° F -  never drops below 64° F
Plants more kinds of trees than any other area in the world and over 2,500 species of vines grow in the rainforest

vegetation in four layers

  • Emergent trees are spaced wide apart, and are 100 to 240 feet tall with umbrella-shaped canopies that grow above the forest.
  • Upper canopy of 60 to 130 foot trees
  • The understory, or lower canopy, consists of 60 foot trees.
  • The forest floor is usually completely shaded.
Mammals
  • South America
    • jaguar, ocelot, didelphid opossums, sloth, howler monkey, spider monkey, bats, marmosets
  • Australia -
    • tree kangaroo, rat kangaroo, opossums, banicott, echidna, duck-billed platypus, sugar glider
  • Southeast Asia -
    • tarsiers, orangutans, Siamangs, gibbons, colobine monkeys, tigers, tree shrews, moonrats, most flying foxes, bamboo rats, Oriental dormice
  • West Africa -
    • antelopes, chimpanzee, gorilla, scaly-tailed squirrels, otter shrews,  okapi, hippopotamus, Cercopithecus monkeys, bushbabies, pygmy hippo
Birds, Insects, Reptiles, & Amphibians
  • South America -
    • anaconda, caiman, iguanas, lizards, microteiid lizards, boas, and coral snakes, poison arrow frog
    • Birds - macaw, hummingbirds, eagles, toucans
  • Australia -
    • frilled lizard, carpet python, Green Tree Snake, Spotted Tree Monitor, Eastern Water Dragon, Boyd's Forest Dragon, Northern Leaf Tailed Gecko, Giant Tree frog, Striped marsh frog, Northern Barred frog, Dainty Green Tree frog
    • Birds  emerald dove, o Australian brush-turkey, sarus crane, gray goshawk, wompoo fruit dove, topknot pigeon, Australian king parrot, laughing kookaburra, lesser sooty owl, fernwren
  • Southeast Asia -
    • Birds - tree swifts, leafbirds, fairy bluebirds, fantails, whistlers, flowerpeckers, wood swallows
  • West Africa -
    • Birds - Congo peafowl, African Gray Parrot

Isects make up the largest single group of animals that live in tropical forests. They include brightly colored butterflies, mosquitoes, camouflaged stick insects, and huge colonies of ants.