Ponderosa Zoo Rainforests

Ponderosa Zoo
  Rainforests

Rainforests
Close your eyes and imagine you’re in a thick, dark forest with trees towering above you. It’s
very hot and sticky from the humidity. Listen carefully, what can you hear? You can hear the
sounds and calls of animals all around you. Birds are singing and Monkeys are calling. Frogs are
croaking and insects are chirping and buzzing. You can hear rustling and grunting from the
undergrowth getting closer and closer. Suddenly thunder clatters above you and the clouds
release heavy rain. Waters runs and bounces off all of the leaves making it hard to hear the
other noises. This is a rainforest. One of the most diverse habitats in the world!

Where are They Found?
Rainforests are found in Asia, South America, Northern Australia, Tropical Islands and even
Africa. Today they cover around 2% of the earth’s surface however they used to cover about
15% but, we have been destroying them very quickly. The biggest rainforest is the Amazon
rainforest that covers 8 different countries!

The Weather
As the name suggests, it rains a lot in the rainforest. They experience an annual rainfall of
around 2.5 metres. Some even receive 10 metres of rain every year!

Despite it being rainy, rainforests are very hot places. Temperatures range between 20°C and
30°C but can exceed this. Humidity in the rainforest can get to 100% which makes it very sticky.

What Lives in the Rainforest?
Rainforests are home to 50% of Earths plants and animals! The Amazon rainforest alone
contains around 10% of these. A single hectare of land can contain 200 different types of trees
and over 40,000 insects!

Species in the rainforest are well adapted. Trees can grow to 60 metres tall and have large roots
to help anchor them into the shallow ground. Their leaves are concentrated up in the canopy
so they can receive plenty sunlight.

Many of the animals have adapted to live in trees for example monkeys with their long tails
and even snakes; which have adapted to wrap around tree branches.

Logging
Logging is one of the main threats affecting the rainforest. An estimated 5 million hectares of
rainforest is lost to logging each year. Trees are chopped to supply high value woods such as
mahogany to timber markets in Japan, Europe and the USA.

Sustainable Wood
Sustainable wood plantations are becoming a more common occurrence. These plantations
produce trees that can be felled for the timber trade which helps reduce the amount felled
from the forests. However, it does take around 60 years for a tree to grow to a size it can be
felled.

Mining
Rocks under the rainforest hold a lot of valuable resources such as diamonds, gold, copper,
coal etc. To get to these resources people have to make mines. This destroys the trees, ruins
the soil and can even poison the water ways.

All of these issues cause a lot of problems for the animals that live in the forest. Their homes
are lost, there is a lack of food and the poisonous water can lead to them dying.

To help prevent this, large areas of rainforest are now protected by a law in Indonesia that
means mining is illegal unless underground.

Endangered Species in the Rainforest
Rainforest of the world are home to around 50% of all plants and animals. However,
destruction has already wiped out many plant and animal species. In some cases, we probably
don’t even know that a species has gone extinct as no one had discovered it before it was gone!

Orangutans
In the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, one of the fastest growing industries is palm oil. This
industry is one of the biggest threats to orangutans, which are one of our closest living relatives.
Around 10 million hectares of rainforest has been cleared to make way for these plantation
and they were responsible for at least 50% of the destruction to orangutan habitat between
1992 and 2003. Since then, around 90% of their habitat has been destroyed. Orangutan
numbers have declined from approximately 230,000 individuals to around 62,500 individuals.

Other Animals in Danger
It’s not only orangutans affected by palm oil. There are only around 400 Sumatran tigers left as
their habitat is being destroyed as well. Pygmy elephants are losing valuable food sources and
there are now only approximately 1,500 left in the wild.

Medicines
Around 25% of all medicines in the USA are made using ingredients from the rainforest. For
example, the Rosy Periwinkle which is found in the rainforest of Madagascar is used to treat
leukaemia patients and so far, around 2,000 plants found in rainforests have been identified to
have anti-cancer properties. We cannot be sure how many valuable plants we have lost due to
deforestation.

How to Help
Sustainable practices may be the future for some rainforests. By growing crops sustainably
and in harmony with the environment, it reduces the impact on the soil and native plants and
animals. This is because fewer pesticides are used, and wildlife habitats are protected as
patches of forests are set aside for farming. There are also added bonuses to the farmers as
well. If they farm sustainably, they are allowed to charge a higher amount when selling their
crops. This makes it more appealing to them. You can help at home by checking what you
buy. It’s as simple as that! Fair-trade products such as certified coffee and bananas can help
the rainforest as they are grown on sustainable plantations. Checking ingredients on
packaging is also a good way to help. Trying to avoid palm oil products will help reduce the
number of plantations. Items such as soap and chocolate contain palm oil.

We all need to join together to help protect our precious rainforests. They house so many
important species and are the lungs of the earth. By spreading awareness and changing our
habits we can save the rainforests!