Who and/or what inhabits the rainforest?
Q. In the rainforest, are there more large animals or more
small animals?
In the rainforest there are more small animals.
Q. Are there more meat-eaters or more plant-eaters in the
rainforest?
There are more plant eaters in the rainforest.
Q. Name two methods that rainforest animals use to protect
themselves against predators.
Animals use many methods for protecting themselves like hiding,
running away or attacking, they use warning colors, they try to
scare predators or camouflage themselves.
Q. What is it called when one type of animal looks very much
like a poisonous animal?
When one animal tries to look very much like a poisonous animal it
is called mimicry.
Q. What does arborel mean?
Animals that live in trees are arborel.
Q. Name a large arboreal animal.
Howler monkeys and the sloth live in trees.
Q. Name a brightly colored animal that is poisonous.
Poisonous animals are frequently brightly colored.
Q. In which layer of the rainforest do the large animals live?
The large animals usually live on the forest floor.
Q. In which rainforest layers do most birds live?
Birds mostly live in the canopy and emergent layers of the
rainforest.
rainforests Mosaic 2005
Q. Is the number of species of animals in rainforests
increasing or decreasing?
The number of species of animals in rainforests is decreasing.
Q. Which kind of rainforest has the greatest diversity of
plants and animals?
Tropical rainforests have a greater diversity of plants and animals
than temperate rainforests or any other biome.
Q. How do forest people get their food?
Forest people are mostly hunter-gatherers; they get their food by
hunting for meat (fishing for fish) and gathering edible plants like
starchy roots and fruit.
Q. What are the reasons that the populations in the
rainforests are decreasing?
Most populations in the rainforest are declining. The primary
reasons for this are diseases like smallpox and measles.
Q. What is the most numerous animal in the rainforest?
Insects are the most numerous animals in the rainforest.
Q. What is a capybara?
The capybara is the world’s largest rodent. It has no tail and
partially webbed feet. It lives on the riverbanks of the rainforest.
Q. What is the biggest snake in the world?
The biggest snake in the world lives in the rivers of the rainforest. It
is called the anaconda.
rainforests Mosaic 2005
Q. What does extinct mean?
Many species of rainforest animals are endangered and many
others have gone extinct as the number of acres of rainforest on
earth decreases.
Q. What does mutualistic mean? How does it work in the
rainforest?
90% of the trees in the rainforest depend on animals to disperse
their seeds. In most other types of forests the trees depend on the
wind to disperse their seeds. These plant and animal relationships
are often mutalistic – that is both the animal and plant benefit from
the relationship.
Q. What kinds of diseases are scientists’ hopeful rainforest
plants may help cure?
Of the thousands of plants identified as carrying potential
anticancer compounds, more than half are native to rainforests.
Research projects are investigating rainforest plants for help in
curing such diseases as cance and AIDS.
Q. How many different cultures live in the rainforests of the
world?
Anthropologists believe that as many as 1 000 different cultures of
indigenous peoples may be living in rain forests worldwide.
Q. What does slash and burn in the rainforest mean?
Sometimes the indigenous people living in the rainforest clear land
by burning the forest by a method called Slash- and- burn they use
this to make the clearing of the land easier and release nutrients
into the soil more quickly
rainforests Mosaic 2005
Q. How many fruits are found in the rainforests of the world?
At least 3000 fruits are found in the rainforests; of these only 200
are now in use in the Western World. The Indians of the rainforest
use over 2,000.
Q. List the layers in correct order from the rainforest floor to
the tops of the tallest trees.
From the top layer down:
Emergent
Canopy
Understory
Forest Floor
Q. How many species of plants animals and insects live in
the tropical rainforests?
More than half of the world's estimated 10 million species of plants,
animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests. One-fifth of the
world's fresh water is in the Amazon Basin.
rainforests Mosaic 2005