What is a rainforest? A very special place with the greatest variety of plants and animals found anywhere on Earth. A noisy place because of all the insects, birds and animals. A colourful place with beautiful flowers. A hot, wet place. A place made up mainly of trees. It looks like a huge carpet of broccoli from above. An evergreen place.

Where are the Rainforests? Rainforests grow where it is always hot and wet. These places are always near the Equator. The largest rainforest is in S America and includes the River Amazon.

Rainforests

What plants live there? Plants of all shapes and sizes grow everywhere. There are ‘layers’; –Emergents, the highest layer made up of very tall trees. –Canopy, like an umbrella or roof of leaves. –Understorey, a shady layer below the canopy. Smaller trees are here. –Shrub layer, dark because of the canopy and understorey. –Forest floor or Undergrowth, a very thin layer of soil, useless for growing crops.

Which animals live there? Canopy –Toucans and Macaws with specially shaped beaks to find and eat fruit and nuts. –Squirrel Monkeys, Sloths and giant flying squirrels all adapted to climb and hang on to the tallest trees. –Snakes frogs and lizards climb and slither round the branches. Ponds form in the angles of branches where the frogs can swim.

Which animals live there? Understorey –Gorillas, Leopards, Monkeys and Chimpanzees, many of these are camouflaged to protect them from their enemies or to stop their prey from seeing them.

Forest Floor Plants here must like the shade and dampness. There is no grass. Insects, such as ants, like the mosses, dead leaves and twigs on the forest floor.

Next we have images of the wonderful creatures, and some people, that you can see in the rainforest

We all live in the rain forest.