Rainforest Habitat Facts
- Rainforests are forests that experience a high level of rainfall.
- Scientists believe that there may be millions of plant and insect species in rainforests that have yet to be discovered.
- Over 25% of natural medicines have been discovered in rainforests.
- Rainforests used to cover 14% of the Earth’s surface but due to deforestation now only cover around 6%.
- A wide variety of animals live in rainforests, including birds, snakes, insects, jaguars, cougars, chameleons, turtles, frogs, and many more.
- There are two types of rainforest, temperate and tropical.
- Temperate rainforests lie in the temperate zones (between the tropics and the polar circles) of the globe. They are found in a few regions scattered around the world such as western North America, south-eastern Australia and New Zealand.
- Tropical rainforests lie in the tropics (around 28 degrees north or south of the equator). They are found in many areas near the equator such as Asia, Africa, Central America and the Pacific Islands.
- The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world.
- A number of tribes in areas such as central Africa and Brazil still live in rainforests, having no contact with the outside world.
- The words 'jungle' and 'rainforest' are sometimes used to mean the same thing but there are some differences.