A rain forest is a warm and rainy place with a thick growth of trees. Because of heavy rains, the trees grow tall and close together. The tree tops are so thickly branched that they almost block the passage of the wind. The air is still and uncomfortable. The thick tree top also prevents sunlight from reaching the ground. It is difficult to walk through these areas. Along with a large number of trees, it also has many different kinds of animals. These include noisy birds, hungry crocodiles, lizards, snakes and jaguars. Thousands of insects of different types are also found in the rain forests. There is an ant called ‘army ant’ that eats anything that would not move out of its way. There are certain mosquitoes whose bite is fatal; sweat bees which crawl into people’s ears and noses, and ticks and flies bite their skin.
Most rain forests are located near the equator. The largest rain forest is the Amazon basin in South America. The temperature ranges from about 20 to 34°C. Thunderstorms occur about every three days. Areas of rain forests experience heavy rains upto 250 cms (100 inches). The tallest trees of rain forest form a covering of leaves called the upper canopy. The upper canopy may be 30 to 46 m above the ground. Smaller trees form lower canopies. The shade from the trees prevents about 99 percent of the sunlight from reaching the ground. Thus there is not much plant life on the forest floor. Dense vegetation close to the ground occurs in clearings and along rivers. These areas are sometimes called jungles.
There are different kinds of plant and animal life in rain forests. Tropical rain forests contain the greatest variety of wild life including the wealth of insect life. Many of these insects have wonderful forms of camouflage. Also more different species of trees are found in tropical rain forests than in any other kinds of forests in the world. The soil layer in the tropical rain forests is very good for farming.
