Rainforests are the world's powerhouses, the most vital habitats on the planet. Characterised by high rainfall, they only cover 6% of the Earth across the tropical regions, but they contain more than half of its plant and animal species. Fast-growing trees form a dense canopy that prevents much sunlight reaching the forest floor and discourages undergrowth. The canopy is where it's at, and it hums with an incredible diversity of life.
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Forest finds
An exciting variety of new species is being discovered.
In the forests of Papua New Guinea, George McGavin and the other expedition scientists work to prove that this jungle is worth saving by finding new and exciting species. Bat expert, Alana Maltby, has found two new bat species in as many weeks and Allen Allison is almost certain he's found a new species of frog. George remarks that in 100 years these newly discovered species may no longer be here if the forests aren't conserved.
Logging dilemma
The rainforests are shrinking, but it's not the locals who profit.
There's big money to be made from tropical timber. A large tree in the forests of Papua New Guinea can fetch as much as �1,000 back in the UK. The owners of the land are often small tribes that live throughout the forest, and have to decide whether to keep their land and trees intact, or sell them to the loggers. But they rarely see much of the profit, receiving only about �8 per tree. George McGavin points out how keeping the forests intact will help to combat global climate change and save between 60 and 80% of all the world's species.
Monsoon rains
The monsoon creates lush rainforest, but it's hard on the inhabitants.
The monsoon creates lush rainforest, but it's hard on the inhabitants.
Detox
Spider monkeys and others eat clay to detox their poisonous diet.
Spider monkeys and others eat clay to detox their poisonous diet.
Toxic plants
Lethal cocktails protect plants from being eaten.
Lethal cocktails protect plants from being eaten.
Andes to Amazon: AMAZON JUNGLE
5th of a 6 part series exploring the wildlife & wild places of South America. Explores the difficulties faced by animals in the lush Amazon rainforest.
Andes to Amazon: LOST WORLDS
1st of a 6 part series exploring the wildlife & wild places of South America. 1. An aerial journey through the most spectacular locations on the continent.
Andes to Amazon: MIGHTY AMAZON
2nd of a 6 part series exploring the wildlife & wild places of South America. Looks at the Amazon river and its flooded forests.
Nature: Series 2, The Future of the Amazon
Paul Evans investigates the Amazon, the biggest area of rainforest left on Earth.
Costing the Earth: Whose Amazon Is It Anyway?
How arguments about the protection of the Amazon rainforest are playing out in Brazil.
African fish eagle
Red kite
Temminck's tragopan
Demoiselle crane
White-fronted bee-eater
Blue bird of paradise
King bird of paradise
Magnificent bird of paradise
Raggiana bird of paradise
Six-wired bird of paradise
Superb bird of paradise
Vogelkop bowerbird
Wire-tailed manakin
Knot
Marvellous spatuletail
Brown-throated sloth
Giant anteater
Common blossom bat
Greater bulldog bat
Little bent-wing bat
Straw-coloured fruit bat
Giant river otter
Jaguar
Leopard
Otter
Puma
Raccoon
South American coati
South American grey fox
Spectacled bear
Tiger
Southern three-banded armadillo
Tiger quoll
Malayan colugo
Bongo
Hippopotamus
Doria's Tree-Kangaroo
Matschie's tree-kangaroo
Yellow-bellied glider
Agile gibbon
Aye-aye
Bald uakari
Black-crested gibbon
Bornean orangutan
Common Chimpanzee
Common woolly monkey
Eastern Gorilla
François' langur
Human
Indri
Lar gibbon
Phayre's leaf monkey
Ring-tailed lemur
Siamang
Sumatran orangutan
Tufted capuchin
Verreaux's sifaka
Western gorilla
Western red colobus
African bush elephant
Asian elephant
Forest elephant
Capybara
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome.
Tropical and subtropical forest regions with lower rainfall are home to tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests and tropical and subtropical coniferous forests. Temperate rain forests also occur in certain humid temperate coastal regions.
The biome includes several types of forests:
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests are common in several terrestrial ecozones, including parts of the Afrotropic (equatorial Africa), Indomalaya (parts of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia), the Neotropic (northern South America and Central America), Australasia (eastern Indonesia, New Guinea, northern and eastern Australia), and Oceania (the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean). About half of the world's tropical rainforests are in the South American countries of Brazil and Peru. Rain forests now cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface. Scientists estimate that more than half of all the world's plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests.
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