4 Tropical Rainforest Facts For Kids

Are all forests the same? Some forests are a bit more unique than others and reside in specific climates. A tropical rainforest is the term used to classify forests that experience high amounts of rainfall. This leads to unique emperors, which results in specific plants and animals living in tropical rainforests.

To gain a better understanding of what tropical rainforests really are, here are some cool facts that you can take a closer look at:

1. Do We Know What Lives in Rainforests?

Rainforests exist in certain climates and are forests that have a lot of rainfall, but not everything currently surrounding rainforests has been discovered. There are still many plants and insects living in tropical rainforests that still have not been identified or even discovered. Some scientists even estimate that there are millions of plants and insects of this type residing in tropical rainforests.

2. Becoming Extinct

Tropical rainforests and the plants or animals living in them are in a bit of danger. At one time almost 14% of the earth’s surface was covered by tropical rainforests. However, due to deforestation this is no longer the case. Now less than 6% of the earth’s surface is covered by tropical rainforests and it is decreasing as time passes. Many environmentalists are very active in trying to save the rainforests and the plants or animals that live in them.

3. What Lives in Tropical Rainforests?

The types of plants and animals that live in rainforests are very broad. Most of these types of forests reside in temperate zones. This is between the tropics and the polar circles. They are often found in Asia, Africa, central America and the Pacific Islands. The animals that you can find living in these regions include many types of birds, snakes, insects, cougars, turtles frogs and much more.

4. What is the Largest Tropical Rainforest?

The largest tropical rainforest in existence is the Amazon Rainforest. It covers ore than 1.3 billion acres and is located in Brazil. However, it is so large that even though half of the Amazon resides in Brazil, it also spans to cover parts of Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Guyana, Bolivia and Suriname. More than 20% of the living bird species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest. In addition to the many birds living in the Amazon, there are more than 2 million different types of insects and nearly 4,000 different types of plants. Over time, there have been many droughts that have impacted the species living in the Amazon negatively.