When you visit our tropical rainforest you will meet the tropical heat and the sound from the animals in the rainforest. In our forest we have wide range of different tropical plants and trees. On your way round the forest, you will meet our animals who lives in the rainforest.
The tropical rainforest
The tropical rainforest stretches around the Earth on both sides of the equator. With its biodiversity and ecological cycle, it is the most important biological resource in the world.
The climate is characterized by an annual rainfall of between 2,000 and 10,000 mm and a constant temperature of about 25o C.
The rainforest is often referred to as the "earth's green lung" due to the enormous oxygen production.
The forest is habitat for up to 70% of all known animal species, but we know that there are many more undiscovered species.
The vegetation in the rainforests grows in different floors or layers. The upper emergent layer of tree tops reaches a height of approx. 60 meters and consists of individual giant trees. From 30 to 40 meters we find the canopy from smaller trees. Between 10 and 30 meters grows a dense understory layer of shrubs and finally there is the lower forest floor layer, which includes the vegetation between 0 and 10 meters.
The forest cycle
It is noteworthy that the soil in the rainforest is not very fertile at all. It sounds strange with the extreme diversity, but the explanation is that plants and animals form what is called a closed ecological cycle, where all species are interdependent. They live, so to speak, on each other and therefore do not need much nutrition from the earth.
Threats
Originally, the rainforest covered 15% of the earth's surface, but today there are only about 5% left. The forest is cut and the land is converted to agriculture. But when the forest disappears, there is only nutrient-poor soil left, and agriculture must quickly be abandoned again. Where before there was forest, the landscape changes to steppe and desert.
The main crops are soy and palm oil. Soy is used as animal feed and palm oil is found in countless foods.
Annual rainforest loss is estimated at 180,000 km2. This roughly corresponds to an area four times the size of Denmark.
