A rainforest is a large area of woods consisting of, tall trees, short trees, vines, flowers, ferns, animals, insects, lots of rain almost every afternoon, and warm temperatures.
The term "rainforest" is a general term used to describe a wet woodland.
If we were flying over one in an airplane, all we would see would be the tops of trees and not the inside of the rainforest because there are just so many trees growing all together.
The tops of the trees form the CANOPY and they can grow between 150 and 200 feet tall.
There are taller trees that can push their way through the canopy, and they are called EMERGENTS which can grow to about 270 feet.

ARE THERE DIFFERENT KINDS
OF RAINFORESTS?

Yes. One is called the "Equatorial" Rainforest.
This kinds grows wide leafed evergreens and are found in the warm wet areas of the Tropics at low elevations.
55-160 inches of rain falls here in a year. Temperatures are between 77-95 degrees.
Another is called a "Subtropical" Rainforest.
Some of these are found in places like Central America, the West Indies, India, Burma, Southeast Asia, Brazil and Madagascar.
Temperatures and seasonal changes in these kind of forests limit the kinds of plants that can grow.
There are "Monsoon" Rainforests which usually have thick and rich undergrowth. Some of these are found in places like Burma, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia where it rains about 51 inches a year.
"Montane" Rainforests are usually on top of tropical mountains. The trees here can be smaller, tree trunks twisted and overgrown with mosses and other growth.
These forests are found mostly in Central Africa and Indonesia and the Andes Mountains in South America and are sometimes called "cloud forests".
Finally there are the "Mangrove" Rainforests which are not really rainforests.
They are formations that grow on the edges of rainforests near coastal lines. Because of the salt water, plants don't grow very well here.

The soil in which the forest grows is made from a process called "weathering" which means destruction.
When the rain gets to the soil, it acts like an acid, eating away at the rock and taking away some of the vitamins and food the trees need.
After millions of years of this happening, the soil has become very thick and is mainly made of a sticky red clay and is very poor.
The plants and trees have learned to get their food from the rain and dead plants.

Each day, the sun comes up over the rainforests very fast and heats the wet ground.
The warm moisture then rises up into the sky where it's cooled. Water droplets then form clouds.
By the time we are eating lunch, the sky is full of clouds. By the time we get out of school, it's pouring lots of rain over the forests.
It is very important that we don't kill the rainforests, or we won't get enough rain to have enough water for more plants and tres to grow.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE
INSIDE THE RAINFOREST?

Let's take a walk through one, and find out.
It's pretty dark in here and that's because the canopy does not allow very much sunlight or moonlight inside to the floor.
The floor is the ground you're walking on and it is where leaves and branches fall and die and rot away.
All of this is called "vegetation"

I ONCE HEARD THE WORD "LAYERS"
WHAT ARE THEY?

Layers are different heights of the forest where different animals, plants and insects live. For instance, eagles, parrots, toucans, macaws and other types of birds, live in the CANOPY.
Lianas, are plants that look like ropes and grow up the trunks of trees. This section is called the MIDDLE CANOPY.
Young trees called saplings and other shrubs grow in the UNDERSTORY. These grow to about 30 feet high.
Then there is the FLOOR, which we talked about earlier.
Lots of bugs here as well as rotting leaves and other vegetation.
The rainforests also have rivers running through them with many many different fish, like the piranha for one.

ARE THERE ANIMALS IN
HERE TOO?

Oh there sure are! There are jaguars, margays, tigers, leopards, monkeys, bats, and others.
There are thousands and thousands of insects like beetles - the goliath beetle for instance, is one of the biggest in the world with a wingspan of up to 1 foot!
Butterflies by the millions, as well as moths, worms, ants, termites, spiders, and many more we probably haven't even discovered yet!
There are also snakes, lizards, tree frogs and so much more.
If you can think of an animal, bird or insect, it probably lives in the rainforest and is much bigger then the ones you see around your neighborhood.

WHAT DO THEY EAT?

Well, depending on the animal, many of them eat what we do, grown in the rainforests.
Bananas, coconuts, limes, avacados, pineapple, passion fruit, berries, nuts, cocoa, vanilla beans, spices like hot peppers, and cloves, plus much more.
Some animals, like the tigers, jaguars and such are meat eaters,
so they will fight amongest themselves, killing for food.

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