HABITAT WEEK!!

HABITAT WEEK!

It’s Habitat Week here at Headquarters. We meet so many amazing animals and we talk about their habitats, but never in detail. So we thought it was high time that we learn more about these amazing habitats that make up our planet. First up, tropical rainforests!

Fun Rainforests Facts:

•        Tropical Rainforests are found near the equator in South America, Africa and parts of Asia.
•        Tropical rainforests are warm and humid all year round.
•         Tropical rainforests have four layers, the emergent (top), the canopy (just below the emergent layer), the understory and the forest floor.
•         The emergent layer trees grow tall to compete for sunlight.
•        The canopy houses most of the animal life in the tropical rainforest.
•         The forest floor is full of decomposing plant material. Not much grows in this part of the rainforest due to lack of sunlight.

•         Rainforest cover about 2-6% of the earth’s surface, but are home to numerous species (many of which have not even been discovered)
•         Tropical rainforests are home to nearly 50 % of all animal and plant species on earth.
•         Tropical rainforests have helped people, not only do all those plants help produce oxygen for everyone to breath, but many medicines have been derived from plants only found in the rainforests.
•         The largest tropical rainforest is the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

Animals you can find in the Amazonian Rainforest:

•         Jaguars
•         Ants
•         Howler Monkeys
•         Sloths
•         Tapirs (Check out Ellie’s Coloring Sheet Below)
  
•         Forest Eagles
•         Poison Dart Frogs
•         Bats
•         Toucans
•         Macaws
•         Capybara
•         Caiman
•         Emerald Tree Boas

The rainforest is an amazing place. It is so full of life and wonderful things to discover. We can’t even begin to pick our favorite thing about this special habitat. What do you love about rainforests? Check out The Rainforest Foundation for ways to help protect rainforests and their inhabitants around the world.