Tropical Rain Forests supply the most gross natural products every year, then
why are we cutting them down? One of the reasons is that not only do the supply
the most natural products in the world but they also are some of the cheapest.
Because of this Tropical Rain Forests are being cut and burnt down just so some
companies can save some money.
The tropical Rain Forests are also some of the most amazing places on Earth. With leaves the size of a grown man and trees hundreds of feet tall. Animals ranging from the smallest humming birds to jaguar, strong and fast.These are some of the reason that many organizations are trying to protect this amazing habitat. But, there are many other reasons to save the Rain Forests. One of which is many medicines are made from rare plants that can only be found in the Rain Forests.
The Amazon is a river that flows through one of the world largest Rain Forests in South America. This Rain Forest covers an area of 2,300,000 square miles (6,000,000 square km). Comprising about 40 percent of Brazil's total area, it is surrounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north, the Andes Mountain Ranges to the west, the Brazilian central plateau to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.
The Amazon River valley is the largest basin area in the world, and its rain forest stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the tree line of the Andes in the west. The rain forest widens from a 200-mile (320-kilometre) front along the Atlantic to a belt 1,200 miles (1,900 km) wide where the lowlands meet the Andean foothills. The immense extent and great continuity of this forest is a reflection of the high rainfall, high humidity, and monotonously high temperatures that prevail in the region.
The Amazon Rain Forest is the world's richest and most varied biological reservoir, containing several million species of insects, plants, birds (some of the most beautiful and fascinating in the world), and other forms of life, many still unrecorded by science. The luxuriant vegetation encompasses a wide variety of trees, including many species of myrtle, laurel, palm, and acacia, as well as rosewood, Brazil nut, and rubber tree. Excellent timber is furnished by the mahogany and the Amazonian cedar. Major wildlife includes jaguar, manatee, tapir, red deer, capybara and many other types of rodents, and several types of monkeys.
In the 20th century, Brazil's rapidly growing population settled major areas of the Amazon Rain Forest. The Amazon forest shrank dramatically as a result of settlers' clearance of the land to obtain lumber and to create grazing pastures and farmland. In the 1990s the Brazilian government and various international bodies began efforts to protect parts of the forest from human encroachment, exploitation, and destruction.
33% of all Rain forests are in Brazil. The average temperature is 75*f. but it ranges from 85*f. -68*f. The humidity is 70% during the day and 95% at night with an average of 400 inches of rainfall per year. Over 50% of all plant and animal species live in the Tropical Rain forests. Some endangered species that live in the Tropical Rain forests are Asian Elephant, Gorilla, Parrots, Clouded Leopard, Green Iguana, Cane Toad, White throated Capuchin, Paragon Falcon, Chimpanzee, and Jaguar.
Much writing from Encyclopedia Britannica CD 98
