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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First frost
Winter brings frost a devastatingly destructive force that penetrates everything.
Winter brings frost a devastatingly destructive force that penetrates everything.
Boreal forest aerials
New perspectives on the biggest forest on the planet, from the air.
A variety of aerial equipment is used in this sequence: satellite images show the global scale of the boreal forests; the HD heligimbal long lens system, operating from high above so as not to blow the snow off the trees, zooms in for a flyover; finally, the Cinebulle filming balloon drifting barely above tree level completes an intimate picture of this vast and silent landscape.
Hedgehog
American mink
Black bear
Brown bear
Coyote
Eurasian lynx
Grey wolf
Otter
Polecat
Puma
Raccoon
Red fox
Stoat
Striped Skunk
Tiger
Weasel
Wolverine
Elk
Irish elk
Red deer
Reindeer
Mountain hare
Human
Brown rat
Lemmings
Red squirrel
Barnacle goose
Mallard
Snow goose
Great spotted woodpecker
Golden eagle
Honey buzzard
Merlin
Northern goshawk
Peregrine falcon
Sparrowhawk
White-tailed sea eagle
Capercaillie
Pheasant
Eurasian eagle owl
Great grey owl
Long-eared owl
Tawny owl
Blackbird
Bullfinch
Common crossbill
Crows and ravens
Raven
Waxwing
Taiga (/ˈtaɪɡə/; Russian: тайга́; IPA: [tɐjˈɡa]; from Turkic or Mongolian), also known as boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces and larches.
The taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States (northern Minnesota through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Upstate New York and northern New England) and is known as the Northwoods. In Eurasia, it covers most of Sweden, Finland, much of Norway, lowland/coastal areas of Iceland, much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific ocean (including much of Siberia), and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan (on the island of Hokkaidō). However, the main tree species, the length of the growing season and summer temperatures vary. For example, the taiga of North America consists of mainly spruces; Scandinavian and Finnish taiga consists of a mix of spruce, pines and birch; Russian taiga has spruces, pines and larches depending on the region, the Eastern Siberian taiga being a vast larch forest.
The term "boreal forest" is sometimes used (particularly in Canada but also in Scandinavia and Finland) to refer to the more southerly part of the biome, while the term taiga is often used to describe the more barren areas of the northernmost part of the taiga approaching the tree line and the tundra biome.
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Useful behaviours for this habitat
Ecozones where this habitat is found
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