The taiga is the largest land habitat - a northern zone of coniferous forests, stretching right round the planet from western Alaska to eastern Siberia. In the winter the temperature can drop to as low as -50 degrees Celsius and the taiga is blanketed in snow. Many of the trees have to survive being partly buried in snowdrifts. In summer, the climate is much milder and many birds migrate to the taiga regions.

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Earth Explorers

About Taiga

Taiga (pronounced /ˈtaɪɡə/, from Turkic or Mongolian) is a biome characterized by coniferous forests. Covering most of the inlands Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Finland, inland Norway, the Scottish Highlands and Russia (especially Siberia), as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States (Northern Minnesota, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine), northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan (Hokkaidō), the taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome.

Although this biome is correctly named Taiga, the term Boreal forest is usually used to refer to the more southerly part of the biome, while the term Taiga is more often used to describe only the more barren northern areas of the Arctic tree line.

Since North America and Asia were formerly connected by the Bering land bridge, a number of animal and plant species (more animals than plants) were able to colonize both continents and are distributed throughout the taiga biome (see Circumboreal Region). Others differ regionally, typically with each genus having several distinct species, each occupying different regions of the taiga. Taigas also have some small-leaved deciduous trees like birch, alder, willow, and aspen; mostly in areas escaping the most extreme winter cold. However, the deciduous larch tolerates the coldest winters on the northern hemisphere in eastern Siberia. The very southernmost parts of the taiga may also have trees like oak, maple, elm and tilia scattered among the conifers.

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Other Terrestrial Habitats

Ecozones where this habitat is found

Useful adaptations for this habitat

Where you find Taiga

Map showing the location of the Taiga habitat

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