Four different layers of the rain forest:

Emergent Layer- contains very tall trees. Some taller than 160 feet. Butterflies and birds of prey, such as eagles, are
found in this layer.

Canopy- rises about 100 to 130 feet above the ground. It is thick with vines and trees and gets lots of sunshine. Most
of the animals and plants in the rain forest live in the canopy.

Understory- the layer beneath the canopy. Bushes, shrubs and trees grow there about 50 to 80 feet above the ground.
Plants do not grow tall in this layer because it gets very little sunlight. Bats, birds and cats like ocelots live here.

Forest Floor- the bottom layer of the rain forest has almost no direct sunlight. It is usually bare except for decaying
plants and leaves, ferns, moss and other plants that don't need as much sun. Beetles, spiders, tapirs and flightless birds live here.

    Tropical rainforests are located around the equator where temperatures stay near 80 degrees year round. Rainforests receive 160 to 400 inches of rain each year. The largest rainforests are in Brazil (South America), Zaire (Africa) and Indonesia (South East Asia). Other tropical rainforest places are in Hawaii and the islands of the Pacific & Caribbean.

    No one knows for sure how or when the original inhabitants of the rainforests got there. There are
perhaps a thousand or more forest groups around the world - many close to extinction! In 1900, Brazil had 1,000,000 (one million) Indians. Today, there are less than 200,000. Eighty-seven tribes have been
killed off in Brazil since 1900 - that's almost one tribe per year.

    Rainforests help control the world's climate. In the rainforest, it rains a lot and is very hot. When it rains, the heat makes the rainwater evaporate back into the air - this means it's recycled. Rainwater in the Amazon an be recycled five to seven times. 50% of rain in some rainforests comes from evaporation. The clouds that cover the rainforests around the equator reflect the sun. this keeps the rainforest from getting too hot. Rainforest canopies also absorb carbon dioxide, which is a gas in the atmosphere. When the rainforests are burned and cleared, the carbon is released. This makes the weather much hotter and is called the greenhouse effect.

        In the last 30 years, more than 40% of the world's rain forests have been destroyed. Efforts are being made to reverse this destruction through conversation and wise use of natural and renewable resources.

        Today the forests that remain are much the same as they were 50 million years ago. If protected, these ancient forests could survive for hundreds of years more.

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