The Tropical Rainforests Of The World
In this term paper, I will explain the great importance of the tropical
Rainforests around the world and discuss the effects of the tragedy of
rainforest destruction and the effect that it is having on the earth. I will
talk about the efforts being made to help curb the rate of rainforest
destruction and the peoples of the rainforest, and I will explore a new topic
in the fight to save the rainforest, habitat fragmentation. Another topic being
discussed is the many different types of rainforest species and their
uniqueness from the rest of the world.
First, I will discuss the many species of rare and exotic animals, Native to
the Rainforest. Tropical Rainforests are home to many of the strangest looking
and most beautiful, largest and smallest, most dangerous and least frightening,
loudest and quietest animals on earth. There are many types of animals that
make their homes in the rainforest some of them include: jaguars, toucans,
parrots, gorillas, and tarantulas. There are so many fascinating animals in
tropical rainforest that millions have not even identified yet. In fact, about
half of the world’s species have not even been identified yet. But sadly, an
average of 35 species of rainforest animals are becoming extinct every day.
So many species of animals live in the rainforest than any other parts of the
world because rainforests are believed to be the oldest ecosystem on earth.
Some forests in southeast Asia have been around for at least 100 million years,
ever since the dinosaurs have roamed the earth. During the ice ages, the last
of which occurred about 10,000 years ago, the frozen areas of the North and
South Poles spread over much of the earth, causing huge numbers of extinctions.
But the giant freeze did not reach many tropical rainforests. Therefore, these
plants and animals could continue to evolve, developing into the most diverse
and complex ecosystems on earth.
The nearly perfect conditions for life also help contribute to the great number
of species. With temperatures constant at about 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit the
whole year, the animals don’t have to worry about freezing during the cold
winters or finding hot shade in the summers. They rarely have to search for
water, as rain falls almost every day in tropical rainforests.
Some rainforest species have populations that number in the millions. Other
species consist of only a few dozen individuals. Living in limited areas, most
of these species are found nowhere else on earth. For example, the maues
marmoset, a species of monkey, wasn’t discovered until recently. It’s entire
tiny population lives within a few square miles in the Amazon rainforest. This
species of monkey is so small that it could fit into a persons hand!
In a rainforest, it is difficult to see many things other than the millions of
insects creeping and crawling around in every layer of the forest. Scientists
estimate that there are more than 50 million different species of invertebrates
living in rainforests. A biologist researching the rainforest found 50
different of ants on a single tree in Peru! A few hours of poking around in a
rainforest would produce several insects unknown to science.
The constant search for food , water, sunlight and space is a 24-hour pushing
and shoving match. With this fierce competition, it is amazing that that so
many species of animals can all live together. But this is actually the cause
of the huge number of the different species.
The main secret lies in the ability of many animals to adapt to eating a
specific plant or animal, which few other species are able to eat. An example
of such adaptations would be the big beaks of the toucans and parrots. Their
beaks give them a great advantage over other birds with smaller beaks. The
fruits and nuts from many trees have evolved with a tough shell to protect them
from predators. In turn toucans and parrots developed large, strong beaks,
which serves as a nutcracker and provides them with many tasty meals.
Many animal species have developed relationships with each other that benefit
both species. Birds and mammal species love to eat the tasty fruits provided
by trees. Even fish living in the Amazon River rely on the fruits dropped from
forest trees. In turn, the fruit trees depend upon these animals to eat their
fruit, which helps them to spread their seeds to far – off parts of the forest.
In some cases both species are so dependent upon each other that if one becomes
extinct, the other will as well. This nearly happened with trees that relied
on the now extinct dodo birds. They once roamed Mauritius, a tropical island
located in the Indian Ocean. They became extinct during the late 19th century
when humans overhunted them. The calvaria tree stopped sprouting seeds soon
after. Scientists finally concluded that, for the seeds of the calvaria tree
to sprout, they needed to be digested by the dodo bird. By force feeding the
seeds to a domestic turkey, who digested the seeds the same way as the dodo
bird, the trees were saved. Unfortunately, humans will not be able to save
each species in this same way.
Each species has evolved with its own set of unique adaptations, ways of
helping them to survive. Every animal has the ability to protect itself from
being someone’s next meal. To prevent the extinction of a species each and
every species must develop a defense tactic. The following are just a few of
Mother Nature’s tricks.
? CAMOFLAGE
The coloring of some animals acts as protection from their predators. Insects
play some of the best hide-and-go-seek in the forest. The ?walking stick? is
one such insect; it blends in so well with the palm tree it calls its home that
no one would notice unless it’s moved. Some butterflies, when they close their
wings, look exactly like leaves. Camouflage also works in reverse, helping
predators, such as boa constrictors, sneak up on unsuspecting animals and
surprise them.
? SLOW AS A SNAIL
The tree-toed sloth is born with brown fur, but you would never know this by
looking at it. The green algae that makes its home in the sloths fur helps it
to blend in with the tops of the trees, the canopy, where it makes it’s home.
But even green algae isn’t the only thing living in a sloth’s fur; it is
literally ?bugged? with a variety of insects. 978 beetles were once found
living on one sloth.
The sloth has other clever adaptations. Famous for its snail-like pace; it is
one of the slowest moving animals on earth. It is so slow that it often takes
up to a month to digest it’s food. Although its tasty meat would make a good
meal for jaguars and other predators, most do not notice the sloth as it hangs
in the trees, high up in the canopy.
? DEADLY CREATURES
Other animals don’t want to announce their presence to the whole forest. Armed
with dangerous poisons used in life threatening situations, their bright colors
warn predators to stay away. This enables them to survive everyday emergency
situations.
The coral snake of the Amazon, with its brilliant red, yellow, and black
coloring, is recognized as one of the most beautiful snakes in the world, but
it is just as deadly as it is beautiful. The coral snake’s deadly poison can
kill in seconds. Other animals know to stay away from it.
The poison arrow frog also stands out with its brightly colored skin. It’s
skin produces some of the strongest natural poison in the world, which
indigenous people often use for hunting purposes. It’s poison is now being
tested for use in modern medicine.
In a single raiforest habitat, several species of squirels can live together
without harming one another. This bewilders many people, Louise Emmons found.
Why can nine species of squirrels live together? Well, in a brief summary each
of the nine species is a different size; three have specialized diets or
habitats, which leaves six species that feed on nuts, fruits and insects, and
so potentially compete for food. A closer look showed that three of the six, a
large, a medium, and a small one live in the forest canopy and never come to
the ground. The largest squirrel feeds mainly on very large, hard nuts, and
the smaller ones eat smaller fruits and nuts. The other three species, again a
large medium and small one live in the ground and eat fruits and nuts of the
same species as their canopy neighbors, but only after they fall to the ground.
Tropical rainforests are bursting with life. Not only do millions of species
of plants and animals live in rainforests, but many people also call the
rainforest their home. In fact, Indigenous, or native, people have lived in
rainforests for thousands of years. In North and South America they were
mistakenly named Indians by Christopher Columbus, who thought that he had
landed in Indonesia, then called the East Indies.
The native people of the rainforest live very different lives than us. In this
section, I will explain how very different our lives differ than from the
indigenous people of the rainforest. Although many indigenous people live very
much like we do, some still live as their ancestors did many years before them.
These groups organize their daily lives differently than our culture.
Everything they need to survive, from food to medicines to clothing, comes from
the forest.
? FOOD
Besides haunting, gathering wild fruits and nuts and fishing, Indigenous people
also plant small gardens for other sources of food, using a sustainable farming
method called shifting cultivating. First they clear a small area of land and
burn it. Then they plant many types of plants, to be used for food and
medicines. After a few years, the soil has become too poor to allow for more
crops to grow and weeds to start to take over. So they then move to a nearby
uncleared area. This land is traditionally allowed to regrow 10-50 years
before it is farmed again.
Shifting cultivation is still practiced by those tribes who have access to a
large amount of land. However, with the growing number of non-Indigenous
farmers and the shrinking rainforest, other tribes, especially in Indonesia and
Africa, are now forced to remain in one area. The land becomes a wasteland
after a few years of overuse, and cannot be used for future agriculture.
? EDUCATION
Most tribal children don’t go to schools like ours. Instead, they learn about
the forest around them from their parents and other people in the tribe. They
are taught how to survive in the forest. They learn how to hunt and fish, and
which plants are useful as medicines or food. Some of these children know more
about rainforests than scientists who have studied rainforests for many years.
The group of societies known as Europeans includes such cultures such as
Spanish and German. Similarly, the broad group, Indigenous peoples includes
many distinct culture groups, each with its own traditions. For instance,
plantains (a type of banana) are a major food source for the Yanonami from the
Amazon while the Penan of Borneo, Southeast Asia, depend on the sago palm (a
type of palm tree) for food and other uses.
All Indigenous people share their strong ties to the land. Because the
rainforest is so important for their culture, they want to take care of it.
They want to live what is called a sustainable existence, meaning they use the
land without doing harm to the plants and animals that also call the rainforest
their home. As a wise Indigenous man once said, ?The earth is our historian,
our educator, the provider of food, medicine, clothing and protection. She is
the mother of our races.?(11)
Indigenous peoples have been losing their lives and the land they live on ever
since Europeans began colonizing 500 years ago. Most of them died from common
European diseases which made Indigenous people very sick because they had never
had these diseases before. A disease such as the flu could possibly kill an
indigenous person because he/she has not been exposed to this disease before.
Many Indigenous groups have also been killed by settlers wanting their land, or
put to work as slaves to harvest the
