Most of the plants and animals in the rainforest live in the canopy. The canopy may be 100 feet above the ground.

species in the rainforest often work together. A symbiotic relationship is a relationship where two different species benefit by helping each other. For example some plants produce small housing structures and sugar for ants. In return the ants protect the plants from other insects that may want to feed on the plant's leaves.

The Amazon is the world's largest and most famous rainforest. The Amazon River Basin is roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States (the United States not including Alaska and Hawaii) and includes parts of eight South American countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname. The basin is drained by the Amazon River, the world's largest river (and the second longest river after the Nile). The Amazon is home to more species of plants and animals than any other ecosystem on the planet and perhaps 30% of the world's species are found there. Some of the better known animals found in the Amazon include the jaguar, tapir, and many kinds of monkeys.

Tropical rainforests are home to many kinds of mammals

The jaguar is a nocturnal animal – it hunts for prey mostly during the dark hours of the day. (3) Though we have heard of some recent evidence of the jaguar’s daytime hunting as well. (4) The jaguar is a very adaptable animal.

jaguars … hunt by stealth, ambushing their prey from dense cover. Long canine teeth and powerful jaw muscles enable them to kill large animals swiftly, often with a single bite to the nape.

Central America offers great biodiversity, but development, tree cutting, farming, and pollution threaten the region’s natural places.

macaws mate for life. They form breeding pairs called pair bonds that live together, groom each other, and share food. Macaws lay eggs once a year. Breeding seasons generally begin in late fall or early winter.

The tiger, largest of all cats

Scientists believe that there is such a great diversity of animals because rainforests are the oldest ecosystem on earth.

DOZENS OF ANIMAL SPECIES A DAY BECOME EXTINCT IN TROPICAL RAINFORESTS

When rainforests are destroyed, animals living outside the tropics suffer as well. Songbirds, hummingbirds, warblers and thousands of other North American birds spend their winters in rainforests, returning to the same location year after year. Less return north each spring, as few make it through the winter because their habitat has been destroyed. The cutting down of trees is not the only reason for species extinction. Thousands of monkeys and other primates are traded illegally on the international market each year, wanted for their fur, as pets, or for scientific research. Parrots and macaws have also become popular pets; buyers will pay up to $10,000 for one bird. Even the king of the jungle, the jaguar, is in danger of becoming extinct. Its fur is highly valued for use on coats and shoes.

A highly endangered specie of the Amazon river, it can grow up to 6 feet long and a weight of around 70 pounds.