I’m going to talk about is the rainforest. The rainforest is a very humid and wet biome. With a estimated rainfall of 50-260in a year, most of it comes from its own evaporation from its trees. The average temperature year around is 77 degrees Fahrenheit Rainforests at one covered 14% of the world but do to deforestation and the lack to replant the trees it has been depleted to 6%. Not just the trees are being cut down experts say we are losing close to 140 plant, animal and insect species every day. Removing one plant in this fragile ecosystem could seriously harm it all, most of the plants and animals are dependent on a certain plant. The rainforest is home to many animals and plants. Its home to more then half of the worlds plants and trees and animals. There are rainforest located in Brazil, Congo (Democratic Republic), Peru, Indonesia, Colombia, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico and Suriname. There are four layers to the rainforest the emergent layer, canopy, understory, and the floor.
The emergent layer is home to a few very large trees usually exceeding 200 ft.. These huge trees don’t normally grow near each other and will block out most sunlight for anything under it. The emergent layer is home to many birds, insects and some bats. The next layer is the canopy, its home to the most amount of trees. Its average heights are about 100-150 feet. The canopy is also home to the most animals and is the largest layer. Most of the fruits and flowers are located in the canopy, which is probably why it has the most amount of animals. The canopy blocks most of the light making light very hard for the understory and the floor to get. Next is the understory its between the canopy and the floor. The understory captures what little light that gets through the canopy with its huge broad leaves. Its also very dark and very humid due to the lack of light and moisture. The understory contains the most amount of insects and a lot of small mammals and birds and little bats. Last is the floor, it has very little light and is very humid. There is only about 1-2% light that reaches the floor. The floor is occupied by large animals and insects. There are 170,00 different species of plants in the rainforest out of the known 250,000 found species in the world. Scientist say that in a four square mile patch more then 700 spieces of trees, 1000 flowering plants, 120 mammals, and 150 butterfly’s would be found. Some of the animals living in the rainforest are the poison-arrow frog, macaw, sloth, boa constrictors, spider monkeys, and the toucan. The poison arrow frog are known by their bright colors which warn animals that they are poisonous. There poison is one of the most lethal and can cause paralysis or death. It is so potent that one millionth of an ounce can kill a dog and an amount smaller than a grain of salt can kill a human. The average frog carries enough poison to kill about 100 people. The hunters in the rainforests use it on their arrows which is how it got its name. The frogs are about one inch length wise. These tiny frogs lay their eggs on leaves. The macaw is the largest parrot, there are more then 10 different species of macaw. They are between 1-3 feet tall and there long beautiful tails are normally longer then the rest of their body. The macaw are very social there calls can be heard all across the forest. They eat nuts, fruits, and seeds they have very good tools for eating those(very sharp beak).Sloth’s are very slow-moving animals found in the rainforest canopies. There are two species of sloth‘s :two-toed and three-toed. Most are about the size of a small dog. Their nocturnal and sleep curled up with their head placed between the arms and the feet drawn close together. Sloth’s rarely climb down from the trees and can live for up to 30 years. Spider monkeys are large compared to most monkey’s. Adult’s grow to be two feet tall excluding the tail. They have a powerful tail that they use as an extra limb. There are around 40 different kinds of toucans, there about 2 feet in height. They have short and thick necks. The bright colors on his bill help to attract a mate. A toucan’s bill is sharp and has saw-like edges. The toucan eats nuts and fruits, the use their saw-like beak to tear off parts of larger fruits. They also eat small birds and lizards. They live in pairs or small flocks.