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The Rainforest
Objectives
Students will be able to:
•gain knowledge of and identify rainforest
terminology.
•identify the location, layers, habitat, and
animals of the rainforest.
•understand the reasons for rainforest
destruction.
The Rainforest
Layers of the Rainforest:
Forest Floor
Understory
Canopy
Emergents
The Forest Floor
 The forest floor is a very warm and humid
place to live. Hardly any sunlight reaches this
area so many plants that only need a small
amount of light grow here such as ferns and
mosses.
 Some of the animals that live here include:
jaguars
tapirs
tarantulas warthogs
The Understory
 The understory is a very damp and hot place
to live. It is located in the lower branches
and tree trunks of trees in the rainforest.
Birds and monkeys travel through this area
when looking for food. Small plants and
flowers grow here also.
 The animals that live here include:
snakes
frogs
bees
The Canopy
The canopy is the upper parts of all the trees
in the rainforest. 70-90% of animals live in the
canopy! The canopy protects the lower parts of
the forest by providing shade and protection
from the heavy rains.
The leaves in the canopy provide the source of
power for the forest by converting sunlight to
energy through photosynthesis.
The animals that live in the canopy include:
orangutans
macaws
howler
monkeys
The Emergent
The Emergent is the tip-tops of all of the trees
in the rainforest. The trees in the emergent tower
over everything, averaging around 270 feet in the
air! These trees are covered in direct sunlight.
The animals found in the emergent include many
types of birds such as the:
harpy eagle
macaws
parrot
Destruction of the
Rainforests
1.5 acres of rainforest are lost every
second. If this continues the rainforest
will be depleted in merely 40 years.
The rainforests used to cover 15% of
the Earth’s surface, now after human
intervention they only cover 7%.
It is estimated that we lose over 100
species of animals a day due to
rainforest destruction.
Click on the following sight to review
the reasons for rainforest destruction:
http://www.savetherainforest.org/savet
herainforest_006.htm
The Animals of the
Rainforest
In one single tree in the Amazon rainforest
you can find over 200 different types of
insects.
The howler monkey that lives in the
rainforest is the second loudest animal in
the world.
The capybara is the largest rodent in the
world and it lives near rivers and streams on
the rainforest floor.
Resources
Images:
http://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/images/rainforest-layers.gif
http://www.tikaltravel.com/images/photos/images/tapir.jpg
http://villagewiki.pbwiki.com/f/Tarantula.jpg
http://www.ai.mit.edu/lab/olympics/98/images/jaguar.jpg
http://www.cruisersafaris.com/images/packages/warthog.jpg
http://www.cloudforestalive.org/files/palmviper.JPG
http://www.skyrail.com.au/nd0904-3.jpg
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/images/070830-poison-frog.jpg
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/EUR/2400-1197~Orangutan-Baby-Posters.jpg
http://img3.travelblog.org/Photos/24856/185234/f/1417725-Scarlet-Macaw-at-Copan-Ruinas-1.jpg
http://www.whozoo.org/Anlife99/coreybow/HarpyFemalePG_062105_5587.JPG
http://www.vickisturiale.com/xSites/Mortgage/vicki/Content/UploadedFiles/parrots.jpg
http://www.redjellyfish.com/images/rfdestruction3.jpg
http://www.ypte.org.uk/docs/factsheets/env_facts/env_images/logging2.jpg
Resources
Information:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rainforest/Strata.shtml
http://www.rainforesteducation.com/life/understory.htm
http://edhelper.com/AnimalReadingComprehension_27_1.html
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0401.htm
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/5798/levels.html
http://mle.matsuk12.us/rainforest/emergent_layer_animals.html
http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/3294/rainforest_info.html
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/ctf/facts/animals.htm