1. Trees in a rain forest canopy can be as tall as a 20-story building.
2. Rain forests are made up of different "layers." Animals that live at the bottom layer are completely different from animals that live at the top.
3. Trees from an area the size of a football field are cut down every second in a rain forest somewhere in the world.
4. There are 700 species of fish in the Congolese rain forests.
5. Due to the dense plant life on the rain forest floor, animals that tive on the ground must rely on their voices to communicate.
6. Canoes are a common way to get around a rain forest.
7. The higher elevations of El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico can get 200 inches (508 cm) of rain a year. The forest is the only tropical rain forest protected by the U.S. National Forest system.
8. Half of the Earth's plants and animals live in rain forests.
9. Male rhinoceros hormbill birds seal their babies and mates in hollow trees to keep them safe. They feed them through a hole just big enough for their beaks.
10. Sloths spend 15-18 hours a day sleeping to conserve energy.
11. Fewer than one out of every 100 rain forest plants has been studied by scientists to see if it can be used in medicine.
12. In FA AB the rain forest, camouflage is king! Some flowers are shaped like insects, and some insects are shaped like leaves.
13. You can go to school to learn how to survive in a rain forest.
14. The top of the rain forest canopy acts as an umbrella, keeping much of the wind, water, and light from reaching the plants and animals below.
15. Tropical rain forests began to grow over 100 million years ago.
16. When a tree falls, it can become a "nurse" log that other plants soon overtake by growing on it and getting nourishment from it.
17. Twenty percent of all the fresh water on Earth can be found in the Amazon basin.
18. Violet plants in the rain forest can grow as big as apple trees.
19. Rain forests usually receive at least 80 inches (203 cm) of rain a year-if all of the rain pooled on the ground at once, it would be deeper than a grown man is tall.
20. Rain forests once blanketed the Earth; today, they cover only 2 percent of Earth's surface.
21. The trees are so thick in a rain forest that no more than two percent of the sun's light penetrates to the forest floor.
22. A single rain forest tree can be more than a thousand years old.
23. Antarctica is the only continent without a rain forest.
24. Rubber is made from sap from the rubber tree, which grows in the Amazon.
25. One type of rain forest tree flowers once, releases its seeds, and then dies.
26. Even though they are blind, millions of army ants will advance through the rain forest in a column that eats everything in its path.
27. We can thank the rain forest for pineapple, cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, and other foods we eat every day.
28. The rain forest isn't home just to animals-more than 3o million people live there too,
29. A medicine to treat malaria, a killer disease spread by mosquitoes, comes from rain forests.
30. The Brazilian nut tree produces flowers that only last for one day.
31. A quarter of the world's known butterfly species live in South American rain forests.
32. More than 4,000 miles (6,437 km) of rivers can be found in the Amazon rain forest.
33. Sloths are the slowest mammals on Farth: They move ebout siy to eight feet (1.8 to 24 m) per minute.
34. Scientists Ehink thát more than 2,000 rain forest plants might be used to fight.cancer,
35, The durjan fruit, which tastes great but smells e diry socks, grows in the forests of Southeast Asia, and is a favorite food of orangutans.
36. Cayenne red pepper, black pepper, and chili pepper all come from rain forests
37. The bright colors of some butterflies signal that they are poisonous,
38. More than half the trees cut down in the Amazon are removed to make room for cattle ranches.
39. It takes sloths up to one month to process their food.
4o. The flooded forests of the Amazon are the only places on Earth where fish feed on fruits and seeds.
41. The rain forest is home to brightly colored snakes, including purple eyelash pit vipers.
42. Some scientists estimate that 30 million different species of insects live in rain forests.
43. The largest butterfly in the world, the Queen Alexandra's birdwing, can have a wingspan up to one foot across (30.5 cm).
44. Ancient Central Americans used the jaguar as a symbol of royalty and believed that jaquars protected them from evil.
45. During the annual rains in the Armazon, an area the size of England is inundated with Water
46. The Roosevelt, elk, the largest elk in North America, lives in a temperate rain forest. Males can be five feet (15 m) at their shoulders.
47. There is a rain forest in Alaska.
48. It can take ten minutés for rain falling on a rain forest to reach the ground.
49. Tree kangaroos live in Australia's rain forests. While they are clumsy on the ground, they are swift and fast once in the trees.
50. Some piranhas in the Amazon will remave nuts from their shells and eat them.
51. Manatees in the Amazon can weigh as much as 1,000 pounds (454 kg).
52. The goliath beetle can weigh as much as 3.5 ounces (100 g)-or the same as a medium-sized apple.
53. You might cross an acre (0.4 ha) of rain forest and never see the same kind of tree more than once now try that in your backyard!
54. Howler monkeys howl to let other monkeys know the territory is occupied.
55. The people of the Amazon eat a fish called the tambaqui, and no wonder: It can weigh as much as a cheetah!
56. The Amazon rain forest is twice the size of India.
57. Strangler figs got their name because they take the place of a tree they have grown on and killed.
58. Some plants create "cups" with their leaves that can hold gallons of water,
59. After feasting on rotting leaves, a bird called the hoatzin smells like cow manure.
60. Armadillos live in rain forests, and they can hold their breath for six minutes to cross a body of water. Sometimes they do it by walking along the river bottom.
61. Organisms living in a sloth's fur will tint it green; the sloth then becomes even harder to spot in the trees.
62. When a leaf falls in a rain forest it decomposes in about six weeks, but when a leaf falls in a northern pine forest, it. can take seven years for it to decompose,
63. Capuchin monkeys, which live in the Amazon rain forest, are very clever. It's recently been discovered that they can be trained to help people with disabilities.
64. Rain forests are rich with beetles; scientists found nearly 1,000 species of beetles on one tree in Panama.
65. Red-eyed tree frogs use a sticky mucus on their toes to help them grip wet, slippery surfaces.
66. Notorious for their carnivorous appetites, some piranhas are actually vegetarian.
67. To get around in the forest canopy, some tree snakes glide from limb to limb, avoiding the ground altogether.
68. The colorful Morpho butterflies of rain forests can be so vivid that they can be seen from low-flying airplanes.
69. Dolphins in the Amazon River are different shades of pink.
70. Brazil is home to 30 percent of the world's tropical rain forests; in second place: the Democratic Republic of Congo.
71. Tropical rain forests don't have cold winters-the average temperature is a warm 75°F(24°C).
72. Some orchids grow underground.
73. The Maya and the Inca built great civilizations in their rain forest homes.
74. You can buy chocolate bars that are made using rain forest-friendly cocoa.
75. In one year, a canopy tree in a tropical forest can release about 200 gallons (760 L) of water through its leaves.
76. A tropical downpour can rain two inches (5 cm) in one hour.
77. Some animals never travel from the forest canopy to the ground.
78. Grasshoppers in Peruvian rain forests can be rainbow-colored.
79. Fruit bats eat fruit; after the seeds pass through their digestive systems. they poop them out as they fly overhead.
80. Rain forests at higher elevations are called "cloud forests" because of the eSence of fog and clouds.
81. Brightly colored scarlet macaws are sometimes illegally caught in forests and then sold as votic nets
82. Researchers use hot air balloons to float over rain forests in order to study them.
83. If loqging continues in the Amazon at its present rate, more than half of its forests could disappear by 2030.
84. Vines in the rain forest, can grow to be as thick as your leg.
85. Red-eyed tree frogs are colored bright neon on their bellies. When attacked they flip over to et artle the predator and make a quick getaway,
86. Chewing gum originally came from rain forest trees: now it can be made artificially.
87. As many as 100 African grey parrots will perch in one single tree.
88. Rain forests act to absorb carbon diovide which is one of the gases that cause global warming.
89. In Australia, you can stay in an eco-friendly tree house and watch the wildlife,
90. Carnivorous piranhas will chomp down on goats that have fallen into the water,
91. Some tarantulas vell Oick hairs from their bodies at animals that might try to attack them.
92. Rubber trees produce a sticky latex so that whon an animal tries to eat the tree, its mouth sticks together instead.
93. Some bamboo plants can grow as much as one Faet (o a mi a day,
94. Rain forests are most "alive" at night-80 percent of all the animal activity takes place in the darkness,
95.A baby orangutan will cling to its mother's belly as she searches for fruit to eat, When the baby gets older it will r pigguback rides!
96. Leaf cutter ants eat more than 15 percent of all the leaves grown in some forests.
97. In the Amazon, after a canoe is made, it is burned to make it waterproof.
98. Perfectly at home in the forest, some Amazonian neonles have never seen a cell phone or car.
99. Baby Brazilian tapirs have stripes and spots, but adults are all brown.
100. The large eyes of the nocturnal bush baby let in as much nighttime light as possible.
Comments
Post a Comment