The Rain Forest

What is a rain forest?
A rain forest is a tall dense jungle. It gets a high amount of rain fall every year.

Rain forests once covered almost all of Central America but many of these areas were cleared for cattle ranching and plantations. Currently the Amazon jungle is the worlds largest tropical rainforest.

The Jaguar

Jaguar Facts

• The Jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas
• The Jaguar has short legs
• The Jaguar has spots called rosettes
• It is the third largest cat next to the lion and leopard
• The Jaguar has powerful jaws

Toucan

Toucan Facts

• The bright orange beak is about one third of the birds total length
• They regulate body temperature by adjusting the flow of blood to their beak
• When they sleep they tuck their beaks under their feathers to keep warm
• They use their beaks to pluck fruit
• They have a flat tongue which helps catch insects and frogs

The Poison Dart Frog

Poison Dart Frog Facts

• They feed on mostly spiders and small insects
• They have excellent vision
• They capture their prey by using their long sticky tongues
• Their beautiful colors are warnings to predators
• Their skin contains the poison

The Cocoa tree

Cocoa tree facts

• This tree produces cocoa
• A tree takes 5 years to produce the fruit
• The pollination process is done by flies, not bees
• It takes several hundred processed beans to make 1 pound of chocolate

The Banana Tree

Banana Tree Facts

• Banana trees can reach 20 feet in height
• Over 400 bananas may be in each cluster
• Each cluster may weigh over 100 pounds
• Bananas come in a variety of colors, green, red, brown, purple or yellow

The Orchid

Orchid Facts

• There are more then 25,000 documented species of orchid
• Orchids have a symmetry similar to human faces
• Orchids deceive insects into pollinating them
• Vanilla is a species of orchid

When people cut down the rain forest to build houses, make furniture and paper they hurt the planet. They mine the land for oil and gold. People burn the rain forests to clear the land. They hurt the rain forest to make money for themselves.

When people use less paper they save the rain forest. When they use less oil and gasoline, they save the rain forest. When they eat less red meat they save the rain forest because we don't need the land to raise the cattle. Many groups raise money for awareness and to "re-plant" the rain forests.

Websites used for reference

• mrsgebauer.com
• srl.caltech.edu
• defendersofthewildlife.com
• nationalzoo.si.edu
• m.lifescience.com
• ecorazzi.com